Accident Database

Report ID# 2361

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  • PFD Not Worn or Present
  • Does not Apply
  • One Boat Trip

Accident Description

 Body found during search for missing rafter

The Associated Press

05/21/2007

http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_5949816

PALISADE, Colo.- Search teams in Mesa County recovered a body Monday during efforts to find a man who disappeared while rafting with his girlfriend over the weekend. Authorities found the body in the Colorado River between Palisade and Clifton just before 11 a.m. Officials were awaiting positive identification to determine whether the body was that of Ricky Crewse. Crewse, 29, had gone rafting with his girlfriend and her two children Saturday evening when their inflatable rafts capsized near a diversion dam in Palisade. The woman and children made it to a river bank and could see Crewse still holding on to his raft, but he was no longer visible when rescuers arrived. Crewse's empty raft was found Sunday near Palisade High School. He was not wearing a life preserver.

Link: http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_5959210 Article:

PALISADE, Colo.- Relatives identified a body found in the Colorado River in Mesa County on Monday as that of a Palisade man who disappeared during a weekend rafting outing with his girlfriend. Searchers located the body of Ricky Crewse, 29, just before 11 a.m., between Palisade and Clifton.

Crewse had gone rafting with his girlfriend and her two children Saturday when their inflatable rafts capsized near a diversion dam in Palisade. The girlfriend, Shawna Anderson, and her children made it to a river bank, and could see Crewse still holding onto his raft. He was no longer visible when rescuers arrived. Anderson said Crewse knew how to swim, but he was not wearing a life preserver at the time of the accident.

The incident occured at the GVIC (Grand Valley Irrigation Canal ) diversion dam in Palisade, CO.

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