ANAHEIM, Calif. -- An 18-year-old New Mexico youth celebrating graduation at Disneyland with his Albuquerque high school class drowned in a boating accident, officials said today.
Sgt. Chet Barry said Phil Straughan climbed into a restricted area with a friend in Disneyland's Frontierland Friday and took a motorized maintenance raft to Tom Sawyer Island without authorization.
On the way back to shore the boat struck a rock and threw the youth overboard. Straughan's friend managed to swim ashore where he notified park security his friend had not made it back to land.
Disneyland spokesman Bob Roth said park personnel retrieved Straughan's body from the river and he was pronounced dead. Roth said the teenager had just graduated from St. Pious X High School in Albuquerque.
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Barry said there is no indication of drug use or other foul play.
The teenager's death is the seventh accidental death in the park's 27-year history.
