{"id":205096,"date":"2026-05-29T04:46:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T04:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/205096\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T04:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T04:46:08","slug":"long-island-sixth-grader-dies-in-rafting-accident-on-school-trip-to-pennsylvania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/205096\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Island sixth-grader dies in rafting accident on school trip to Pennsylvania"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A Long Island sixth grader tragically <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/26\/us-news\/idaho-man-dies-while-rafting-on-colorado-river-through-grand-canyon-national-park\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">died while rafting<\/a> on a school trip in Pennsylvania\u2019s Pocono Mountains, officials said.<\/p>\n<p>Cesar Albarracin Guncay, a 12-year-old student in the Sag Harbor Union Free School District, was one of five people in a raft on the Lehigh River when it capsized around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, throwing everyone overboard, the district said in a statement. <\/p>\n<p>While the others managed to get to safety, Guncay did not immediately resurface.<\/p>\n<p>Officials from the Carbon County Coroner\u2019s Office were called to D&amp;L Trail along the Lehigh River around 6 p.m. \u2014 by the time they arrived, the Lehighton Fire Department Dive Team had already pulled Guncay\u2019s body from the water.<\/p>\n<p>He was pronounced dead less than an hour later. <\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.77777778;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39521248\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cesar-albarracin-guncay-ny-student-129034649.jpg\" alt=\"Cesar Albarracin Guncay standing in front of three crucifixes in a wooded area.\" class=\"wp-image-39521248\"  \/>Cesar Albarracin Guncay, 12, tragically died while rafting on a school trip in the Poconos, Sag Harbor Union Free School District confirmed. GoFundMe<\/p>\n<p>Officials expressed their profound grief over the tragedy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are no words to adequately express the depth of this loss,\u201d Sag Harbor Superintendent Jeff Nichols <a href=\"https:\/\/longisland.news12.com\/sag-harbor-student-dies-in-rafting-accident-during-class-trip\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCesar was a cherished member of our school family, a child who mattered deeply to all who had the privilege of knowing him,\u201d the statement continued.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39521249\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/striking-colors-fall-foliage-near-129036419.jpg\" alt=\"Lehigh River in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, surrounded by vibrant fall foliage.\" class=\"wp-image-39521249\"  \/>Guncay was one of five people in a raft on the Lehigh River when it capsized around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, throwing everyone overboard, as he was the only one to not resurface and was pronounced dead less than an hour later. Khairil \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis absence will leave an irreplaceable space in our classrooms, our hallways and our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Guncay was one of 74 students on the school trip.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>School counseling staff will be available to students, said Nichols. <\/p>\n<p>He also encouraged members of the community to reach out to the Response Crisis Center and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.longislandcrisiscenter.org\/contact-us\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">the Long Island Crisis Center<\/a> if help is needed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Long Island sixth grader tragically died while rafting on a school trip in Pennsylvania\u2019s Pocono Mountains, officials&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205097,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[44852,58133,28,30,29,22133,15227,3315],"class_list":["post-205096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-long-island","tag-metro","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-poconos","tag-rafting","tag-students"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}