A Tennessee man died Friday after he fell from a raft into the Colorado River in Glenwood Canyon, the Garfield County Coroner’s Office confirmed. Cornelis Booysen, 55, out of Juliet, Tennessee was part of a commercial rafting group with his family when, somewhere between Shoshone and Grizzly Creek, the raft hit rough rapids.
This caused Booysen and others to fall out of the raft.Everyone was eventually rescued but when Booysen was brought to shore, he was unresponsive.
“The decedent was eventually rescued and brought to shore and the group alongside with other bystanders, initiated CPR until first responders with the Glenwood Springs Fire Department and Garfield County Sheriff’s Office arrived,” Coroner Robert Glassmire said in a news release. “Unfortunately, Mr. Booysen was unable to be resuscitated and upon the coroner’s office arrival, the decedent was pronounced dead.”
Booysen was wearing a personal floatation device and a helmet. The cause of death was listed as an accidental drowning.
