An expert kayaker from Teton Valley, Idaho died Sunday on a river in northwestern, Montana. 50-year-old Steven Koning died in an accident on the Yaak River, a few miles northeast of its confluence with the Kootenai River. The Lincoln County, Montana Sheriff’s office says dispatchers received an SOS message from a GPS device in the river.
One in the kayaking party was able to call 911 and reported that Koning had fallen out of his kayak in a rough stretch of river and members of the group were unable to rescue him.
The accident occurred shortly before 12:30 pm and Koning’s body was recovered three hours later near the Montana/Idaho state line. The section of river where the accident occurred is rated as Class IV-V, for expert paddlers.
