Man dies after raft flips on Arkansas

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.