A young woman out tubing on the Yukon River with some friends drowned last night after she fell off her inner tube in turbulent water.

Paula Joan Riehl, 23, was pronounced dead at Whitehorse General Hospital despite a police officer and a passerby attempting to resuscitate her at the scene.

Whitehorse RCMP received a 911 call at 8:12 p.m. that a young woman had been pulled from the river near the whitewater park on the Riverdale side of the river as it runs through town.

The constable who arrived first, along with an unknown man who'd been in the area, started CPR until ambulance attendants arrived just minutes later.

Riehl, her boyfriend and three male friends had been floating down the Yukon River on inner tubes, explained Sgt. John Sutherland of the Whitehorse RCMP.

None of the five was wearing a life jacket.

The four young men made it through the small rapids below the dam without any difficulties, but Riehl's inner tube started to swirl in a large eddy just above the whitewater park.

She fell off the tube, but with the strong currents, was unable to swim to shore.

The group of friends had not been drinking, police said.

With the hot weather, the Yukon's rivers are higher with runoff, Sutherland said.

'Right now it's a pretty dangerous time to be in the river,' said the sergeant.

Even though people may have swam in a particular area before with no problems, with the higher, faster water, the conditions have changed, Sutherland said.

As of late, the RCMP have received several calls each day reporting that young people are jumping into the river off the Robert Campbell Bridge, he noted.

Generally, officers stop and talk to the kids and suggest they move to another, safe spot to swim.