SALIDA, Colo.—A Woodland Park man is dead after a commercial rafting accident on the Arkansas River in Chaffee County.
Sixty-one-year-old James Kennedy was on the rafting trip Thursday afternoon when the raft he was riding in hit a center pier bridge support and flipped over, dumping Kennedy, two other rafters and their guide into the rushing water.
The group had launched from a boat ramp just moments before.
Two of the rafters and the guide managed to crawl to shore, but the water swept Kennedy downstream another half-mile before he could be pulled out.
Off-duty Salida Fire Captain was kayaking in the area and administered first aid to Kennedy.
He was taken to Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center where he later died.
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Information from: Joseph Kreiss, KVRH-AM & FM/Salida,
