Camden man dies after kayak rolls over

SEARSMONT – A 61-year-old kayaker rolled over while going through a section of rapids on the St. George River in Searsmont on Sunday and died, the Maine Warden Service said.

Jim McLarty of Camden was unable to right himself and failed to grab a rope thrown by some of the seven other kayakers who were with him, Warden Service spokesman Mark Latti said.

The kayakers pulled him out of the water about 300 yards downstream and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but he never came to. Emergency medical technicians pronounced him dead at 3:58 p.m., Latti said.

“The witnesses around him said he was unresponsive as he started to go into those rapids and as they started to rescue him, he wasn’t cooperating, like something else was happening – they were throwing him a rope and he was unresponsive,” Latti said. He was “almost like in a daze … just like in almost unconscious stage.”

“So, there may be some other medical issues that came up as opposed to drowning,” he said. “The medical examiner’s office will examine the body as well, but he had no history of heart problems.”

McLarty, described as an experienced kayaker, was wearing a life jacket and cold-water gear at the time of the incident. His body was being transferred to a funeral home in Rockport.