American tourist drowns in water rafting expedition

 Police in Southern Province have confirmed the death of an American tourist who drowned during a rafting expedition on the Zambezi River near Victoria Falls.

Southern Province Commanding Officer Moono Namalongo said the victim, identified as Patrick Lawrence, 68, died after the raft he was navigating capsized at Rapid Number 7 last evening.

Mr Namalongo confirmed the death of 68-year-old Patrick Lawrence in a statement to the media in Livingstone this morning.

“We can confirm that Mr Lawrence, an American national, tragically drowned during a rafting activity on the Zambezi River...

He said the accident ... was reported by Mr Obey Hamuchemba, 47, Director at Nyami Nyami Rafting Company, who was overseeing the activity.

Investigations indicate that Mr Lawrence was leading a team of ten paddlers when the raft overturned.

Mr Namalongo however confirmed the safety of the other paddlers who were in the company of the now deceased.

The South Police Chief says the body of Mr Lawrence was later retrieved and rushed to Mukuni Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

Source: American tourist drowns in water rafting expedition (15/11/2025)

Further Information

American river guide Lawrence Patrick Firman dies while kayaking the Zambezi

Lawrence Patrick Firman, 68 years old, an expert kayaker and rafting guide for over 35 consecutive seasons in the USA, died while kayaking the Zambezi river on November 13, 2025. “Larry” was part of a group of over a dozen river guides (including several Zambian guides and also one non-river guide participant) who had completed a 12-day expedition trip down the Zambezi river during which Larry had kayaked through the main rapids on the river successfully. On the day after the expedition trip ended, most of the same group were doing a day-trip through the main rapids section of the river again along with 3 local river guides (from Zambia and Zimbabwe, with leader Thando Lungu) when the incident occurred. This group of 12 river guides plus 1 non-guide were in 2 paddle rafts and 2 kayaks. The two kayakers were Larry and another expert kayaker and river guide from Mexico (Uriel Arroyo). According to Uriel, who was close to Larry on the water as the incident occurred, they entered Rapid #7 just before 3 pm and kayaked through most of the rapid to the very end section known as Land of the Giants, where Larry entered a big hole that flipped him. [Mr Firman appears to have subsequently drowned attempting to roll the kayak back upright. Attempts to revive him were unsuccessful.] (Facebook, 17th November 2025)

UK teenager attacked by crocodile on gap-year trip in Zambia

 

Amelie Osborn-Smith was white water rafting in the Zambezi below Victoria Falls at time of incident.

A British teenager has been reportedly attacked by a crocodile while travelling with friends on a gap-year holiday in southern Africa.

Amelie Osborn-Smith, from Andover, Hampshire, was white water rafting in the Zambezi below Victoria Falls in Zambia when the reptile pounced at her, MailOnline reports.

The 18-year-old’s father said his daughter had been resting her leg over the side of the boat when the crocodile bit her and dragged her under the water.

Osborn-Smith, who was backpacking after finishing her A-levels at school in Winchester, was reportedly saved by a friend who punched the crocodile on the nose until it released her. She has been airlifted to hospital in the capital, Lusaka, about 240 miles (380km) away, where she is being treated for serious injuries to her leg.

Her father, Brent Osborn-Smith, told reporters: “She wasn’t actually swimming but just sitting on the boat and the crocodile saw her leg dangling in the water and thought: ‘There’s lunch.’

“She’s in a pretty bad state at the moment in Zambia and we’re doing our best to try and get her back to have some proper definitive care here, but obviously with a crocodile bite there’s a huge risk of infection and she’s got a very severely damaged leg. It’s quite a distressing situation.

“She’s been stabilised as best they can but it’s still pretty touch and go.”

He said Zambia was on the Covid red list, presenting further challenges in getting his daughter home.

An unnamed friend of Osborn-Smith’s told reporters: “As soon as it happened the male friend dived under the water and started punching the crocodile furiously. Then others jumped in to help. It was chaos. There was blood and people thrashing everywhere. She is lucky to be alive.”

Osborn-Smith was reportedly white water rafting with Bundu Rafting, based in Livingstone in Zambia. The company has been operating in the Victoria Falls area since 1996.

Its website says: “Be assured that we don’t compromise on safety issues on the river. Our trip leaders are the most experienced guides around: some with 20 years rafting on the mighty Zambezi.”

Another rafting company that operates in the area says on its website that the “Nile crocodile is endemic to the Zambezi River” but adds “they are not a problem”.

An adult male is usually between 2.94 metres and 4.4 metres in length and weighs between about 225kg and 414kg, although crocodiles exceeding 6.1 metres in length have been recorded.

In 2018, a woman canoeing above Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe with her fiance had her arm bitten off by a giant crocodile.

Zanele Ndlovu and Jamie Fox, from south-east England, were out in an inflatable raft when the reptile attacked and punctured the vessel.

Ndlovu fell into the water and her right arm was bitten off above the elbow, just days before her wedding.

She was taken to hospital where medics saved her life, and she was married in the hospital chapel the following month.

Source: UK teenager reportedly attacked by crocodile on gap-year trip in Zambia (02/12/21)

 

Fundraiser survives white water rafting drowning terror

Fundraiser Stuart Foulstone says he is lucky to be alive after being sucked into a whirlpool, being under water for almost three minutes during a white water raft challenge in Africa.

As time ran out Mr Foulstone, 45, did not think he would surface and in his mind had said goodbye to his wife and three children but, incredibly, he escaped.

Mr Foulstone’s near drowning happened as he and nine other members of the public were coming to the end of a four-day extreme white water rafting challenge on the Zambezi River in Africa.

They were negotiating the final rapid, Ghost Rider, a notorious grade five rapid involving three large waves.

Mr Foulstone, who was taking part in the challenge to raise money for Wiltshire Air Ambulance, and had trained for six months, was in the second raft.

Both rafts were turned upside down by the rapid. Everyone but Mr Foulstone was able to get to safety with the help of the guides accompanying them.

Mr Foulstone, a civil engineering consultant who lives in Roundway Village, said: “We were not quite square on and we were literally flipped over.

“I was under the raft and the water was very fast flowing and powerful. It has sub-currents and there was a whirlpool which sucked me straight down.”

He said: “I held my breath and I was expecting to bob up after 20 seconds but that didn’t happen. The water held me down and I was spinning. The situation became more desperate and I got to the point where my lungs started to become painful. It felt like it was a lifetime. I was thinking ‘don’t breathe in because you will take water into your lungs’.He was wearing buoyancy aids and held on to his wooden paddle hoping he would re-surface.

“My lungs felt like they were on fire and I just had to hold on and forget about the pain and keep that air in my lungs. I stopped trying to get to the surface to try and preserve the oxygen in my body but n From Page 1

it got to the point where I didn’t think I was going to get out and I said goodbye to Sandra and my children in my head.”

Mr Foulstone blacked out and he re-surfaced. The guides saw him lying face down in the water. He was unconscious and wasn’t breathing but his heart was still beating.

He was rescued, still clutching his paddle, and his next memory was being shouted at to open his eyes and to breathe.

He came round after five minutes and was told that he had been under the water for nearly three minutes. He did not need hospital treatment although when he returned to England he felt unwell and was prescribed antibiotics.

Since the incident, at the end of September, it took him several weeks to get his hearing back due to water in his ears and he took a week off work.

Mr Foulstone has nothing but praise for the company, Water By Nature, which ran the white water rafting adventure and said his near-death experience has not put him off white water rafting.

He said: “I couldn’t fault them at all. We were looked after superbly. The whole experience was really quite remarkable. I loved every second of it, regardless of what happened at the end.

“I was very unlucky to get sucked into a whirlpool but I was fortunate that it spat me out and the guides got to me in time. I think my fitness played a part, I trained for six months at St Mary’s sports gym in Calne.”

Source: Devizes fundraiser survives white water rafting drowning terror (28/11/13)

Danger of the white water

Hurtling through the crashing waves of a Zambezi rapid, giant rocks encroaching left and right, as you paddle in a hopeless attempt to find "solid" water rather than foamy spray, it's worth remembering two things:

a) this is a holiday
b) you paid upwards of $80 for the experience - this is supposed to be fun!

To conjure the experience of whitewater rafting in your head, imagine sitting at the front of a rollercoaster car and seeing the track in front vanish.

There is no telling what path your inflatable raft will take through the swirling eddies and breaking waves of a grade five rapid. (Grade six is considered "unrunnable" for all crafts except one-man kayak canoes.)

Of course you get a pep talk before each - a brief set of guidelines for those on the left and right of the craft, on whether to paddle forward or backward, fast or double-quick speed.

But except for the guide at the back, you are all amateurs and you quickly realise eight plastic paddles can only command a limited influence against the might of this untamed waterway.

And so, inevitably, you end up plunged into the water where surging currents and whirlpools suck you down before, eventually, spitting you out.

Money in them there rapids

In Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, whitewater rafting is the second biggest tourist draw after the cascading 128m falls themselves.

The stretch of Zambezi river that runs immediately from the bottom of the falls is said to have the highest concentration of grade five rapids anywhere in the world.
Everywhere in the town, visitors are confronted with the hard-sell tactics of representatives working for the rafting companies. It takes real bravery to say no and, while on a holiday last year in Southern Africa, I reluctantly caved in.

And so, early one sunny November morning, I found myself perched on the side of an eight-man raft, paddle in hand, crash-helmet clamped to my head and with a lifejacket as tight as corset. No one is strapped in - that would be even more dangerous than hanging loose.
I had already signed the all-important indemnity certificate that absolved the organiser of liability in the event of an accident.

In my gung-ho haste I had not even checked my travel insurance to see if I was covered - most standard schemes do not include this sort of extreme sporting activity.

My fellow crew, a mix of Swedish, Irish and Dutch 20 and 30-somethings, were, like me, whitewater virgins. Our induction was swift but serious. Of course, what they do not tell you is that an average of two people die every year on this stretch of river, doing the exact same thing.

The river takes control

The first two or three rapids were reasonably fun, providing just the right mix of adrenaline surge and safety reassurance, which basically meant we all managed to stay in the boat.

But things got really hairy with the first grade five. Our plotted course went out the window as the forceful flow of the rapid took over.

Very suddenly the water came crashing in from all sides, buffeting the side of the raft and pitching it in a dozen different directions within a few seconds.

The guide urged us to keep paddling - "Left side hard forward, right side hard back" - but the raft might as well have been floating on several multi-directional jet-streams.

Taking the plunge

I looked behind me and saw the edge of the raft minus two team members. Then came a huge surge of water which flipped the craft over and I had a micro-second to fill my lungs with air before taking the plunge.

"If you fall in, don't panic" we had been warned, and I didn't ... not for the first 10 or 15 seconds at least. The currents had dragged me down and I waited in a semi-calm state to surface.

But as the urge to breathe intensified and still I failed to find oxygen I began to worry. Finally I surfaced, gulped a breath of air and was immediately sucked down again by the rapid which continued to carrying me through.

When I surfaced once more, I gasped for air but the panic had forced my windpipe to contract, making it difficult to fill my lungs. Thankfully I was clear of the rapid but water continued to flush around my head.

A white-knuckle ride too far

Utterly drained I swam to one of the support-team's kayaks and was finally hauled into another raft.
When our team was eventually reunited we were given an option of taking the next grade five rapid in one of two ways - easy or hard.

I plumped for the former but some of my team-mates had got a perverse kick out of their own near-death experiences and the latter won through.

Not surprisingly, it was pretty much a repeat performance. By lunchtime I was glad I had chosen the half-day option instead of the full-day. Whitewater rafting was a white-knuckle ride too far - give me a rollercoaster any day.

Source: BBC World News Danger of the white water (28/07/99)