Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Ramah Camper Dies During Rafting Trip

An 11th grade camper at Camp Ramah Darom was killed during an accident on a white-water rafting trip.

Andrew Silvershein, of Davie, Fla., died when his raft capsized June 19 on the first day of a trip on the Ocoee River in Tennessee. Six other campers who had been with Silvershein on the raft made it back to shore safely. Silvershein remained trapped under a rock, under the water’s surface, according to Southern Jewish Life Magazine. A paddle reportedly was used to free him, but CPR efforts failed.

It is the second drowning of a rafter on the Ocoee River this month, according to reports.

A guide rode on each raft and campers wore life preservers and helmets, according to the magazine.

Grief counselors were called to the camp to meet with the campers following the accident. Campers were allowed to call home, and parents had been notified of Silvershein’s death by phone calls and an e-mail prior to the calls.

Silvershein was entering his junior year in high school and played in his school’s marching band. His younger sister was also a camper at Ramah Darom. The funeral is scheduled for Wednesday, the Sun-Sentinel reported. .

The accident occurred during the first week of the camp’s eight-week session.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.