A service was held Tuesday night at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in Sag Harbor for Cesar Adrian Albarracin Guncay, a 12-year-old sixth grader in Pierson Middle School who died in a rafting accident while on the annual class trip to the Poconos on May 27.
A funeral followed at Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Bridgehampton on Wednesday, before Cesar was buried at St. Andrew Cemetery in Sag Harbor.
Attendees were asked to wear blue, Cesar's favorite color; the inside of his casket was sky blue.
Cesar had been one of five occupants in an inflatable raft that capsized at approximately 5:30 p.m. on the Lehigh River, according to a statement released by Mike Parker, the communications director for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. The Carbon County coroner's office was called to the scene at 6:12 p.m., and Cesar was pronounced dead at 6:50.
In the days following the accident, based on conversations with parents of eight of the 74 students who were on the trip, most of whom asked that they and their children not be named, it was possible to piece together a basic timeline of what occurred that day on the river.
The approximately four-hour rafting trip was on an 11-mile section of the Lehigh River, including Class 1 rapids, according to the website for the outfitter, Whitewater Rafting Adventures. On Tuesday, a woman who would only identify herself as “one of the owners” of Whitewater Rafting Adventures, described the river conditions as “average” and said there were five guides on the trip, all in kayaks.
Late in the trip, a shallow area divided the Lehigh, creating a fork. The left side of the fork was clear, but the right side was blocked by a large tree that had fallen across its entire expanse, according to the students. The tree created what’s known as a “strainer” in river terminology, in which a trunk and branches allow water to pass through but trap larger objects. They are considered dangerous and a main safety concern for paddlers.
The children were apparently warned to avoid the right side of the river, but that proved difficult, even for rafts with adults. In fact, the first three rafts that got sucked to the right and hit the tree all had teacher chaperones on board, students said.
News broadcasts showed turbulent whitewater that looked like steam blowing from a turbine in heavy wind trailing downstream from the tree. The current appeared stronger at the spot than elsewhere, with water funneling through the narrow area.
The first raft that hit the strainer was full of female students and a teacher; it became lodged atop the fallen tree. Meanwhile, other rafts were passing to the left fork, safely, continuing downriver.
However, a second raft then got sucked to the right. Riding in this raft were Cesar, another teacher, two boys, and a girl. Cesar's raft knocked the first raft off the tree and sent it down river, but then capsized. Everyone surfaced except for Cesar.
One witness whose raft took the left fork said that around this time one of the kayak guides rushed down the right fork to help.
The woman who answered the phone at Whitewater Rafting confirmed that one of the helmeted guides (the children were not wearing helmets) entered the strainer to help. “He hit his head going in. He was trying to enter it backwards, to get into the strainer to push the rafts out of the way,” she said. He was not knocked out or badly injured.
She wouldn't comment on Cesar's location in relation to the strainer, or if he was seen by the guide.
Raft three hit the downed tree shortly after that and also capsized. It contained six girls and another teacher, William Raney. Three of the girls were dragged underwater and had a “near drowning experience,” according to one mother.
Finally, raft four, this one with seven boys, hit the tree and also capsized. There was no adult in that raft.
One of the empty capsized rafts was caught by the strainer. Multiple witnesses from raft three described guides “digging” and searching around the tree frantically, with at least one suffering cuts on his arms.
Some of the children who had been in the capsized rafts surfaced and gathered on a nearby log, just downstream from the tree. Lev Mesler, one of the boys in Cesar’s raft, was cited by students and parents for helping to pull kids out of the water to safety.
Lev and another student, Riley Gilmore, who was in raft four, helped kids back into rafts. Some of them were scared and Lev helped coax them off the log, students said. They piled into a single raft and were taken downstream by Mr. Raney and Lev to a spot where other rafts were waiting.
They were offloaded into other rafts before they all continued to the end of the trip, a dock area where they were gathered at a pavilion and a head count was conducted, the students said.
Underscoring how different the experience was for each child depending on which raft they were in, some said they had no idea something bad had happened until much later.
The children, who had departed Sag Harbor in two buses at 6 a.m. on Wednesday, returned home, arriving at the school around 2 a.m. on Thursday.
There, they were met by a large group of teachers who had heard of the tragedy but were not part of the trip. A social worker, a therapy dog, and at least one member of the school board were also on hand. Brittany Carriero, the school principal, boarded the bus when the children arrived and spoke with them.
"Before the bus pulled up she was crying and kept saying, 'I'm so sorry,' " one parent remembered.
Parents picked their children up in the school's gym. Matt Malone, the principal of the elementary school, stayed with one of Cesar's close friends to comfort him while he waited for his parents to arrive.
Robert Drake, the Sag Harbor Village police chief, said in a statement that his department “is working in coordination with the Sag Harbor School District and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission as the investigation into the incident continues.”
“I would like to express my heartfelt condolences to the student's family, the school community, and all those affected by this unimaginable tragedy,” he added.
In an email Monday, Mr. Parker of the Fish and Boat Commission said that there was no timeline for the investigation.
He would not answer further questions, relying on his initial statement, citing Pennsylvania law. According to that law, the operator must provide a written boating accident report. The accident reports are confidential, however. “The reports are not admissible as evidence in a legal action, except to prove compliance with the code,” the law reads. “The reports are not discoverable in a civil or criminal proceeding.”
The owners of Whitewater Rafting Adventures, Hilary and Steve Bretzik, issued a statement on May 28.
“Our entire team is heartbroken by what occurred, and our first concern is for the family and friends of our guest,” they said. The Bretziks said their team is still gathering information about the incident, and that they are cooperating fully with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, which is leading the investigation, along with support from the Pennsylvania State Police.
In 2025, Pennsylvania was tied for first in the country with five river deaths, according to an accident database at americanwhitewater.org.
