SALIDA — A 61-year-old Woodland Park man died Thursday after the raft he was on flipped, and he was swept down the Arkansas River.
The Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office said the man, two other customers and a professional guide from Rocky Mountain Outdoor Center were thrown into the river when the raft hit the center pillar of a bridge in Salida at about 1:30 p.m.
The others climbed to shore, but the unidentified man was swept more than a mile downstream before rescue workers could reach him.
The fatality was the second this week in Chaffee County. A 67-year-old man died in an Arkansas River rafting accident near Buena Vista on Tuesday.
Oscar Stevenson III of Eastville, Va., was thrown from his raft at Pinball Rapids. He was pulled to shore, but died, possibly from a heart attack, Sheriff Tim Walker said.
