Recovery efforts-Delaware River

[NJFFSA16]

SPARROWBUSH, N.Y. (AP) - Authorities were searching for a
17-year-old boy who was missing after his raft flipped over on the
Delaware River.
Obinna Okoro of Union, N.J., was on a high school rafting trip
Monday when the raft he and four others were riding in capsized on
a stretch of river near Sparrowbush, about 60 miles northwest of
New York City.
Area fire departments, New York state police and National Park
Service officials searched the river with rescue boats and a state
police helicopter until late Monday afternoon. Authorities were
still searching for Okoro as of 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.
According to the National Park Service Web site, rapids on the
Delaware River are usually considered Class I, or easy. The river
can rise quickly after rain and the river was about 6 feet high
Monday, which can produce intermediate or advanced rapids.
Park service officials contacted all companies licensed to rent
boats on the river Sunday and advised caution due to rising water,
Sandra Schultz, an assistant superintendent for the park service's
Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River, told the Times
Herald-Record of Middletown.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[SANDSTROMJM]

Body Found In River Is That Of Missing N.J. Teen

POSTED: 6:57 a.m. EDT June 11, 2003
UPDATED: 8:48 a.m. EDT June 11, 2003

MATAMORAS, Pa. -- The body of a high school student was found in the Delaware River near the spot where the states of Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey meet, authorities said.

The body of Obinna Okoro, a 17-year-old high school senior from Union, N.J., was found Tuesday near Hunt's Landing in Pike County, police said.

Okoro, a native of Nigeria who was a student at Union Township High School, had been missing since June 2, when the raft he was in with three friends capsized during a school trip.


None of the teens was wearing a life jacket, which each had been issued, authorities said.

Okoro's father, Patrick Okoro, said last week that he didn't want his son to go on the trip.

"I told him, 'You are from Africa; you don't know how to swim,"' Patrick Okoro said. "I said, 'The Americans will swim to the shore and you will drown,' and that's exactly what happened."

Copyright 2003 by WNBC.com The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved.