The Chaffee County coroner has released the name of the 11-year-old boy who fell out of a commercial raft in a popular stretch of the Arkansas River on Wednesday and died.
Drake Durkee of Golden was the victim, according to coroner Randy Amettis, who said an autopsy was planned for Saturday.
Drake’s body was found near the Big Drop section of Browns Canyon on Friday at 1:26 p.m., Sheriff John Spezze said Saturday morning. The location is very close to the area where he fell in the river, Spezze said.
The boy’s feet had gotten snagged on rocks or debris, and he was held underwater, Spezze said.
“I don’t foresee any criminal charges,” he said. “Whitewater rafting is a dangerous sport.”
Drake was on a rafting trip with The Adventure Company when he and two other people fell out of the raft.
Water visibility was only about an inch through the canyon, which is about 14 miles north of Salida.
Forty-eight people — including sheriff’s deputies, Colorado Parks and Wildlife rangers, members of the Colorado Springs Fire Department’s heavy-rescue team and Chaffee County Rescue North and South — participated in the search.
Six people were killed last year on the Arkansas River in Chaffee County, Spezze said.
“The river is running high, very fast and cold,” he said. “It’s up to individual rafting companies to decide when it is safe to run the river.”
Browns Canyon is the most popular whitewater-rafting area in Chaffee County, he said.
“It’s what people come for,” he said.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206, or
