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Man killed in canoe tragedy named
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An experienced canoeist has died after becoming trapped under his boat while riding a flooded river.
Chris Wheeler, 46, from Reading, Berkshire, was pulled from the River Dart at Mel Tor, Poundsgate, Newton Abbot, after getting caught beneath a tree on Saturday afternoon.
Two fellow canoeists fought to free the qualified instructor but could not, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The trio, described as "experienced" by police were canoeing in "challenging conditions" after the river was swollen by heavy rainfall.
A spokesman for the Devon and Cornwall force said: "Certainly it is an area where people go when the river is in flood to experience a bit of white water. Our advice to people is not to do anything it is beyond their experience to cope with."
Fire engines, police and ambulance personnel and a Sea King helicopter were scrambled to the scene just after 4.30pm. Police said the two survivors, both from the South East, required no further medical treatment.
Mr Wheeler, understood to be a partner in a firm of chartered surveyors, was given the nickname "magic knees" after dislocating both joints on Conwy Fall in the 1980s.
His biography on Canoe and Kayak UK magazine - to which he contributed - also said he had enjoyed the sport for 25 years. The website said of Mr Wheeler: "Chris has been writing about the sport for ten years and he edited and wrote much of the South East section of the guidebook English White Water."
His love of the water had taken him to Norway, Vietnam, the USA and Costa Rica.
It is believed there were a total of eight experienced canoeists on the water at the time of the tragedy.
