A French man died while river rafting in Gianyar, Bali on Thursday afternoon when hit by a falling tree, according to local news reports.
The victim was was identified by newspaper Tribun Bali as 24-year-old Remi Wolfenspeger.
Police confirmed the young man’s death: “Yes, it’s true, a French citizen died while rafting on the Ayung River,” police spokesman Ida Bagus Anom Palguna said on Thursday.
Wolfenspeger had been rafting Gianyar’s Ayung River in a group with two other French nationals, reported as Hana Suobodova, 23, and Florent Gabyet, 22.
The group used a local rafting company and had a guide, police said. “The three foreigners had been accompanied by a guide,” Palguna stated.
Right when the group’s raft reached the Hotel COMO Shambhala area they heard a startling roar. A tree suddenly crashed down on them, which is understood to have caused Wolfenspeger’s death.
The group was rushed to Payangan Health Center, but Wolfenspeger tragically could not be saved.
Suobodova was also reportedly injured from the tree crash, with a swollen leg, while Gabyet got cut on the cheek.
The rafting guide himself ended up with a fractured right arm, reports said.
No updates have been published to date since the initial news broke.
This is not the first case of a tourist dying when rafting on the Ayung, despite its relatively calm waters. An Indian tourist died in November 2014 when falling from his raft.
