Boy in tubing accident dies

Andy Irvine's life vest snagged Thursday in the Stillwater River

A 14-year-old boy who nearly drowned in the Stillwater River died at about 2:30 a.m. Saturday in the Kalispell Regional Medical Center's intensive-care unit.

Andy Irvine, the son of Kalispell Fire Department chaplain Hal Irvine, had remained in critical condition there since the Thursday afternoon tubing accident.

He was underwater for between 11 and 15 minutes before rescuers could free him.

Irvine and two friends, Sam Kuhlin and Eric Brinton, were tubing down the Stillwater River near Riverside Drive in Evergreen when Irvine was sucked into an underwater snag after his inner tube flipped.

A swift current swept him close to the bank, where his life jacket got tangled in the branches of a dead log, holding him under the surface, according to reports.

By wearing life vests and going in a group, the boys seemed to be doing everything right, Flathead County Undersheriff Pete Wingert said Friday.

"But it's a dangerous activity," he said. "The river is fast and there are hidden obstacles."

Kuhlin told police he tried to keep his friend's head above water but that Irvine soon lost consciousness.

After trying to free their friend, Brinton ran to a nearby construction site for help. A worker said he went to the river, saw Irvine trapped underwater, and called 911 on a cell phone. The first rescue units arrived just six minutes later. Flathead County Search and Rescue, the Evergreen Fire Department, and the Kalispell police and fire departments responded to the scene.

Irvine was unresponsive when Search and Rescue Coordinator Jordan White pulled him from the water, and paramedics immediately began working on him.

When rescuers were lowered into the river, they found the straps to the boy's life jacket pulled so tight by the current they had to be cut away.

Kuhlin and Brinton told police they had tubed the Stillwater River before, but that it was Irvine's first time.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com