Non-Witness Narrative by (do not publish name) on 2006-07-05 (DO NOT PUBLISH): Body found 7-4-06 TEXT ATTACHMENTS Search Continues For Drowning Victim Monday, July 3, 2006 6:16 PM CDT Recovery efforts continued throughout Monday for a missing 21-year-old Liberty University student whose inflatable raft apparently capsized on the James River near Glasgow last Friday. Aaron Cooper, 21, of Coventry, R.I. was rafting around noon on Friday with a friend who was on a similar inflatable raft when Cooper?s raft capsized in what could be considered to be Class III or IV rapids. The incident occurred approximately 2 ½ miles down river from where the pair had launched from the boat landing at Glasgow. According to Robert Foresman, Director of Emergency Services for Rockbridge County, Cooper apparently surfaced one time before disappearing. The friend successfully made it through the rapids. After seeking help from other kayakers in locating Cooper, the friend went ashore and asked some railroad workers to summon help. Since the incident, rescue workers from the Glasgow and Natural Bridge fire departments, Glasgow Rescue Squad and the Buena Vista Swift Water Rescue Team as well as from other local law enforcement agencies and search and rescue teams from across the state have been searching a three-mile stretch of the James River as it winds its way through a gorge with steep banks and rugged terrain. The river ranges from 100 to 500 yards in width through the gorge. The area is inaccessible by road except for a service road for the CSX Railroad tracks that parallel the river. ?It?s not because of any lack of effort that we haven?t been able to find the victim,? Foresman said. ?As long as we have had daylight, these people have worked.? Recent rains had raised water levels ?way up? on the river last Friday, Foresman said. ?The river changes daily and everyone can enjoy it. But they should be wearing life jackets and especially important are protective helmets,? Foresman said. Neither Cooper nor his companion was wearing any safety gear. Among the rescue units called on to help with the search over the weekend were the K-9 Alert Rescue Dogs from Nelson County and the Blue and Gray Search Dogs from Harrisonburg. Rescue dogs can scent through water in much the same way as they scent through air. Others who assisted included a Virginia State Police helicopter crew, Sheriff Robert Day and the Rockbridge County Sheriff?s Office, the sheriff?s office dive team, Department of Fish and Wildlife game wardens from Rockbridge and Amherst counties, the Virginia State Police EMT dive team, and the Virginia Defense Force Company D based in Lexington. One unit came from Maryland to help with the effort. Foresman said there were as many as 80 rescue workers on the river over the weekend. ?The American Red Cross has also been here since Friday and has provided for our physical and emotional needs,? Foresman said. Aside from the use of the dogs, Foresman said the effort primarily has been a visual search, either on the water by the Buena Vista unit or by simply walking the shoreline of the river. Divers search primarily by feel. The work is dangerous for the workers, many of whom are volunteers, Foresman said. The banks of the river are steep and rocky with the underbrush reaching down to the water. The dangers posed to those in the water became evident on Monday when Lifeguard 10 helicopter had to be called to retrieve a group of divers who had been swept downstream in the current and stranded. On Saturday, Foresman said the stretch of the river being searched was closed to all other recreational users with the help of the county deputies, game wardens and state police. ?There were just a lot of people on the river that shouldn?t have been there,? Foresman said. The incident will be investigated by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.