Dinosaur NM Update On Drowning In Green River The park was advised of a rafting accident at Upper Disaster Falls on the Green River around 6 p.m. on July 27th. The eight-year-old victim and his family were part of a commercial whitewater rafting trip that had launched from the Gates of Lodore that morning. At about 3:30 p.m., the boy and his father were paddling an inflatable kayak through Upper Disaster Falls when the craft overturned and both of them went into the water. The father was retrieved from the water by another raft, but the boy was unable to reach the raft and was last seen near the shoreline. Both the boy and his father were wearing lifejackets and helmets when they went into the water. An aggressive search was begun by the rafting party and the boy was found about 90 minutes later. The isolated location of the incident greatly hampered the group’s efforts to obtain emergency assistance. Once notified of the situation, the park and Moffat County Sheriff’s Department coordinated efforts to reach them. CareFlight was requested from St. Mary’s hospital in Grand Junction, but was unable to liftoff due to inclement weather in the area. A local fire helicopter was therefore diverted to assist with rescue efforts. Due to the topography of the narrow river canyon, however, the helicopter was not able to land near the victim and was forced to land across the river. The rafting group was unable to get him to the helicopter’s location before loss of daylight made both flight and river crossing unsafe. Guides performed CPR for more than three hours before becoming too exhausted to continue. The rafting group continued downriver about eight miles to Echo Park the next morning, where they were met by Dinosaur National Monument and Moffat County Sheriff’s Department staff. The boy was identified as eight-year-old Owen Gerson of Woodstock, New York. [Melissa Cobern, Chief Ranger] 8-year-old drowns on Green River Craig, CO Daily Press July 29, 2008 A young boy drowned Sunday on the Green River in Dinosaur National Monument while on a rafting trip with his family, the Moffat County Sheriff’s Office reported Monday night. The family, from Woodstock, N.Y., was in the area on vacation, Sheriff’s Office investigator K.C. Hume said. The trip was led by O.A.R.S., a national outdoor guide company with an office in Vernal, Utah. The family was part of a roughly 20-person group that had begun their river tour at the Gates of Ladore earlier Sunday morning. The boy, 8-year-old Owen Gerson, was in an inflatable kayak with his father, Stephane, when rapids overturned the pair’s craft. According to a Sheriff’s Office news release, the father was able to reach another raft from the commercial trip but the boy was not. Reports say the boy was last seen near the shoreline before going out of sight. Commercial guides initiated “an aggressive search” for the boy, according to the news release. About an hour and a half after the pair entered the water, the boy was found submerged in the river against a rock. The father and son were wearing life jackets and helmets at the time of the incident. Owen’s mother, Alison, also was on the trip. Law enforcement officers think the events were accidental, Hume said. “It’s a truly tragic, unfortunate event for the family and the folks on the river with them,” he said.Woodstock boy drowns on rafting trip in Colorado By Dietrich Knauth, Freeman staff 07/30/2008 AN 8-YEAR-OLD boy from Woodstock has died in a kayak accident while on vacation with his family in Colorado, authorities there said on Wednesday. Owen Gerson was on a rafting trip on the Green River with his parents and 11-year-old brother when the inflatable kayak he was riding with his father flipped over in the rapids Sunday afternoon and dumped the two of them into the river, according to Lt. K.C. Hume of the Moffat County, Colo., Sheriff’s Office. Owen’s father, Stephane Alexandre, was rescued quickly by people on a raft in the group, and other guides searched aggressively for Owen, Hume said. The boy’s body was found an hour-and-a-half later, submerged and pinned against a rock, the lieutenant said. Hume said the trip, led jointly by Don Hatch River Expeditions and OARS Adventure Travel, had 24 customers and about 10 guides. He said they left from the Gates of Ladore, an entry point into the Ladore Canyon section of the Green River, Sunday morning. The accident happened around 5:30 p.m. that day. Hume said the tragedy was compounded by the remoteness of the accident location. Unable to exit the canyon quickly, and out of reach of police and rescue vehicles, the expedition members had to travel for nearly a full day after recovering Owen’s body until they reached a landing point about 1:30 p.m. Monday. “This is truly a tragic incident, not only for the family, but also for the rest of the people on the river that day,” Hume said. Hume said both Owen and his father were wearing life jackets and helmets when the accident occurred. The Green River, the largest tributary of the Colorado River, lies largely in Utah and also traverses Colorado and Wyoming. Moffat County, where the kayak overturned and where the journey ended in Dinosaur National Monument, is in the northwest corner of Colorado, near the Utah border.