One dead after tour canoe overturns in Southeast Alaska

A Las Vegas man is dead after a tour canoe with 10 people flipped over in the Davidson Glacier River near Haines.

Alaska State Troopers were notified after 10:30 a.m. Monday that the canoe had overturned. Troopers were told that approximately 10 people – all wearing life jackets – had gone into an area of rapids on the glacial-fed river. At the time of the report, four were unaccounted for.

Steven Todd Willis, 50, of North Las Vegas, was found still wearing his life jacket, and pronounced dead, just before 1 p.m. His next-of-kin was also in the canoe when it overturned.

A Trooper dispatch on the incident and Coast Guard press release have conflicting numbers of how many people were on board the boat -- either eight additional people, or 10 additional people -- but all others were safely rescued or self-rescued.

The tour company was not named by either Troopers or the Coast Guard.

Troopers say the river conditions were higher than usual at the time of the accident.