Can the water rafting be dangerous for anybody in Rishikesh?

Well I was there a couple of weeks back, had a good time. All of us were swimmers & we swam quite a lot but a friend of ours panicked in the meantime.

We discussed this aspect for long hours & the topic was turning out to be unending. He had his own perspective saying he could have drowned & died because of panic. He could have lost control, drowned & drank the water & might have dies. He had his own set of questions, like one for the guide. For the namesake he was a guide but are these guys really trained to help the people when caught in panic. Are they the professionals? When he was panicking, why didn't the guide do something to help him out, rather the guide made no moves.

And my other set of friends had to say, one can never die when the life jacket is on you. Just that one should not panic.

And my conclusion is that, life is yours, you are the one to take a risk. If you are adventurous & rough kinds just jump in and not think about what will happen next? And on the otherhand if you are not very confident, sit on the raft & enjoy the water & the rapids.

cheers!