A 35-year-old Seattle man died this afternoon following a rafting accident in the Skykomish River near Gold Bar, the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office reported. The unidentified man had been with a group rafting the river with a commercial rafting company based out of Peshastin, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Lt. Rob Palmer said in a press release.

About 3:45 p.m., the sheriff’s office responded to a report that the rafter had been given CPR after going into the river near Boulder Drop, east of Gold Bar. “The man was reportedly wearing appropriate gear to include a personal flotation vest and helmet,” Palmer’s press release said. The sheriff office’s Marine Unit will be investigating the incident. As of 6:40 p.m., the Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office had not released the man’s identity.

KOMONews.com

EVERETT, Wash. - A rafter who died Sunday after falling into the Skykomish River has been identified as James C. Bryant, 33, of Federal Way, the Snohomish County Medical Examiner says.

An autopsy found that Bryant died of cardiac arrest due to cold water exposure.

Deputies and medics responded to the scene, along the south fork of the Skykomish River near Boulder Drop, east of Gold Bar, at about 3:45 p.m. Sunday after receiving a report of a rafter being given CPR after falling into the river.

Snohomish County sheriff's spokesman Lt. Rob Palmer said the man had been with a group rafting the river with a commercial company based out of Peshastin. The man was reportedly wearing appropriate gear, including a personal flotation vest and helmet.

The CPR efforts were unsuccessful, and the man died at the scene.