The search for a man who fell from a cable basket and was swept away by the Colorado River has been suspended.
The 21-year-old Louisiana man, an employee of the Glenwood Canyon Resort, has not been identified.
The accident happened at about 3 p.m. Wednesday in Garfield County.
A dozen searchers used probing poles and three dogs along the shoreline and river near the No Name area for more than six hours Thursday, said a media release from the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office. They also used rafts and a motorized Zodiac watercraft.
The river, flowing swiftly – near 8,000 cubic feet per second — and with water temperature below 50 degrees, created dangersous conditions.
The sheriff’s office said river conditions and the amount of time elapsed forced the operation Thursday to shift from rescue efforts to recovery.
At about 2 p.m. Thursday authorities suspended the search.
Multiple county, local and state agencies have participated in the effort including: Garfield County Search and Rescue, Garfield County Sheriff’s Office, Glenwood Springs Police and Fire Departments, Colorado State Patrol, and the Colorado Department of Transportation.
A private rafting company also aided searchers.
The Garfield County Sheriff’s Office said the man and two others were attempting to cross the river when the accident happened.
The basket, which hangs from a cable and moves via a pulley system, touched the river, tipped and threw the man into the hard-running water. The two other people in the basket made it back to shore.
Glenwood Canyon Resort owner Kevin Schneider said at press conference Thursday afternoon that the men were transporting some equipment from the south side of the river to the north side when one of the men fell into the rushing water.
Schneider said that all of the resort’s operations have been shut down due to the accident, the Glenwood Springs Post Independent reported.
The cable car is a roughly 4-foot-by-6-foot platform and does not have side rails. None of the men were wearing personal floatation devices, and according to Schneider, floatation devices are not standard operating procedure when using the cable car to haul equipment across the river.
The cable car has been used to haul gear and equipment across the river for close to 30 years, he said.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com.
The Glenwood Springs Post Independent contributed to this report.
