GLENWOOD SPRINGS — Glenwood Springs Middle School student Richard Irving Buchanan, 12, is feared to have drowned while tubing on the Colorado River about 4 p.m. Sunday.
Witnesses on the river Sunday reported seeing the youngster off his tube and struggling in the water near the South Canyon Bridge, and then seeing him sink below the surface, said Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario.
Garfield County Search and Rescue teams spent four hours Sunday evening looking for the youth, combing the banks on both sides of the river and probing deep pools. They planned to resume the search this evening, possibly with aid from a helicopter crew.
Richard, an immigrant from Jamaica who would be in seventh grade this fall, was tubing with his stepfather, Tim Heiney, and his sister, Rischma Buchanan, 19.
Read the rest of this report, including an interview with Richard’s mother, at
