A Chesterton resident and his father have died in a rafting accident on the Alsek River in the Kluane National Park in the Canadian Yukon, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.

The RCMP identified the victims as Jeremiah Leffel, 34, of Chesterton, and Joseph Leffel, 59, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, and said that they died after being ejected from their raft on Wednesday.

The Leffels were part of a rafting group which was registered with the Kluane National Park Services and consisted of five American tourists, the RCMP said.

The bodies were recovered on Friday and the survivors evacuated, the RCMP said.

Parks Canada and the Yukon Coroners Service are investigating the accident.

Posted 6/23/2008