An 8-year-old boy drowned when the inflatable kayak that he and his father were paddling overturned on the Green River in Moffat County.
Owen Gerson of Woodstock, N.Y., and his family were taking part in a commercial white-water rafting trip in Dinosaur National Monument when the kayak tipped in rough water Sunday.
Rafters who were on the trip with them were able to pull his father, Stephane Gerson, from the turbulent waster, said Moffat County Sheriff’s Lt. KC Hume.
But the boy couldn’t reach safety and was swept away. “The forces that act upon a body in the water can be very dramatic, so those types of things unfortunately do happen,” Hume said.
The trip guides, employees of O.A.R.S, a rafting outfitter, found Owen Gerson’s body lodged against a submerged rock after an hour-and-a-half search.
Both the boy and his father were wearing life jackets and helmets, Hume said. His mother and an 11-year-old brother were also on the trip.
The rafts began the trip at the Gates of Ladore earlier that morning. The party left the river at Echo Park the following day.
Tom McGhee: (303)954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
