Accident Database

Report ID# 10574

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Accident Description

More info on the Brown's Canyon fatality from Clark Strickland at RMSKC.

It's my sad duty to report that one of our members, Mark Wier of Lafayette, died on Tuesday in a rafting accident on the Arkansas River in Brown's Canyon. Those of you who attended Paddlefest at Chatfield on Saturday had a chance to meet him. He brought his inflatable kayak out for us to play with. Mark joined the club just about a week before Paddlefest and he was looking forward to joining us on the Horsetooth paddle in July. Newspaper and television reports of the accident are somewhat garbled. There were two rafting deaths in Colorado on Tuesday, one on the Arkansas River and the other on the Cache la Poudre River. My understanding is that Mark was on a private raft on the Arkansas when he and a woman went overboard. The woman swam to shore but Mark, who was communicative when he first went into the water, did not survive. CPR was provided by other raft occupants, but this proved unsuccessful. I expect to gather more information about this accident.

DK Edwards via Facebook Messenger

 

Lafayette man dies while rafting in Browns Canyon

 

A 64-year-old man was on a commercial rafting trip when he died on the Poudre River Tuesday after his raft flipped.

CHAFFEE COUNTY - A Lafayette man died Tuesday afternoon while rafting in Browns Canyon along the Arkansas River. Just before 2:30 p.m., the sheriff’s office was called about a man who had been pulled out of the water near the Widowmaker Rapids – a class 3 section of water.

Deputies say the man, identified as 64-year-old Mark Wher, was on a private raft trip when he fell into the water. He was retrieved shortly after and was immediately administered CPR. After CPR attempts failed, Wher was pronounced dead at the scene.

Chaffee County Search and Rescue, Salida Fire Swift Water Rescue and Colorado Parks and Wildfire assisted at the scene.

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