LAWRENCE COUNTY Workers retrieve body of kayaker

The Slippery Rock University student was kayaking at the park with a father and son he had met in a kayaking class at the university.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
ELLWOOD CITY, Pa. -- A McConnells Mill Park official is calling the deaths of a kayaker and two divers trying to rescue the man an unfortunate accident.
Rescue workers pulled Neil Balcer's body from Slippery Rock Creek on Monday afternoon. The 23-year-old kayaker, a Slippery Rock University student from Ambridge, became trapped under a log Sunday evening.
Two divers from the Unionville Volunteer Fire Department drowned Sunday night trying to recover Balcer's body.
It's still unclear what happened to divers Anthony Murdick and Scott Wilson, both 25, of Butler as they were trying to recover Balcer's body. But the rapids were high and fast and the two apparently became tangled in some rope, said Obie Derr, park manager.
They were trying to reach Balcer, who became trapped under the log around 6 p.m. in the park, which is just off Route 422 in Lawrence County.
With two others: Balcer had entered the creek a few hundred feet upstream at Eckert's Bridge with two other kayakers, a father and son, he had met at a kayaking class at the university.
"They weren't real experienced. They had helmets and other gear. It was just an unfortunate accident," Derr said.
The two other kayakers told officials that Balcer had flipped over before reaching the log and couldn't roll over before becoming trapped.
The three had planned to exit the creek just a few hundred feet downstream, at Harris Bridge, Derr said.
Rescue efforts continued into Sunday night and resumed Monday morning.
Balcer's body was not freed until about 1:45 p.m. Monday and was recovered a few hundred feet downstream, near Harris Bridge, Derr said.