Boy, 14, Drowns After His Foot Becomes Trapped In Rocks During Family Rafting Trip

A grieving mother has told how her 14-year-old son desperately reached for her hand in his final moments as his foot became trapped in rocks and he drowned during a family rafting trip.

The tragedy happened in the municipality of Dalaman, in Mugla Province in southern Turkey, on 19th August, after Taha Emir Kayaalp fell from an inflatable raft and became trapped among rocks.

Taha had been on holiday in Fethiye with his mother Cigdem Katalioglu and stepfather Kadir Katalioglu when he asked to go rafting, having previously taken part in the activity with his family.

Hotel staff directed the family to a rafting company, whose representatives collected them and took them to the river near the village of Gurleyik in Dalaman.

The family were placed in a raft with a German family of four and an instructor, making eight people in total.

Shortly after the raft set off, Cigdem, Kadir and Taha fell into the river.

While Cigdem and Kadir were rescued, Taha's foot became trapped against a rock and he could not be freed immediately.

Cigdem recalled seeing her son in the dangerous section of the river after she herself had been swept underwater.

She said: "He reached out his hand to me. I grabbed his hand and then we looked into each other’s eyes.

"Then a surge of water came and pulled me underneath, separating me from my son. It spun me around underwater and hit me against rocks."

When she reached the surface, Cigdem said she desperately searched for Taha before seeing that his foot was trapped.

She said: "I shouted, ‘Where is my son?’ I saw that his foot was stuck in the rock. They could not get my son out.

"His life jacket had ridden up. I kept saying, ‘Lift my son's head, lift his head.’ They were still saying, ‘We can't get his foot out.’ They could not lift his head and could not hold on to the rope that was thrown to them."

Taha was eventually removed from the water and taken to Dalaman State Hospital, but could not be saved.

Two people at the scene, including a doctor who had been trained in forensic medicine and another person with first-aid training, tried to revive him for around an hour and a half, according to his mother.

Cigdem said an ambulance arrived after about 90 minutes and medics administered adrenaline, after which Taha's pulse and heartbeat returned before he was taken to hospital, where he later died.

The teenager's funeral was held at Gebze Balcik Cemetery in Kocaeli on 21st August.

One person from the rafting company was arrested as part of the investigation into the death.

Cigdem has accused the rafting company of failing to provide adequate safety measures and said the equipment given to her son was old and worn.

She said: "The life jacket they put on my son was so old and worn that it was slipping from his shoulder. His helmet did not fit his head properly."

She also claimed the family were not properly taught the commands needed during rafting before entering the water.

She said: "In rafting, when they say ‘right’, you paddle right, and when they say ‘left’, you paddle left. When they say ‘sit’, you sit because you are going through a dangerous section.

"They did not explain any of these things to us. There was absolutely no professionalism."

Cigdem said she had also been told after the tragedy that those involved allegedly lacked first-aid qualifications and were operating illegally, although she said she only learned this afterwards.

She has demanded that the rafting area be closed and all those responsible be punished.

She said: "The river where the rafting took place is absolutely not suitable for this sport.

"It is not somewhere where even an adult should go rafting, let alone a child. The water is extremely turbulent and there are rocks underneath. You cannot stop, no matter how strong you are.

“I have been hurt by this. I do not want anyone else, whether young or old, to suffer. I only want that place closed.”

The family has also complained about the rafting company after Cigdem alleged that officials offered to refund the money they had paid for the trip following her son's death.

She said: "My son has died and they wanted to give my husband money.

"I would never allow that. I would not take even one lira because of my child."

The investigation is ongoing.

(Marija Stojkoska/Newsflash)