River accidents leave two people dead in Colorado
Authorities said two people died in separate river accidents in western Colorado.
Mesa County sheriff's officials said six people were recreating on a paddleboard, a kayak and a raft on the Colorado River in Grand Junction when they encountered trouble near a bridge Wednesday afternoon. Five of the people were able to make their way to an island, but the paddleboarder remained missing.
Authorities launched a rescue boat, and the woman was found unconscious and not breathing. She died at a nearby hospital.
The coroner's office identified her as 42-year-old Kimberly Moore, according to the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. The newspaper also reported that she had been on the paddleboard with a non-breakaway leash and was not wearing a life jacket, although there was a life jacket on the board.
Meanwhile, authorities recovered the body of a man Thursday who went missing the day before after falling into the Devil's Punchbowl, a popular swimming and cliff jumping area on Independence Pass near Aspen. The Pitkin County Sheriff' Office identified the man as Steven Scott Midlarsky
The Aspen Daily News reports the man was fully clothed, suggesting the fall into the water was accidental.
Parker Lathrop, Chief Deputy of Operations for the Pitkin County Sheriff's Office, told CBS Denver that there are numerous large rocks in that stretch of river and there have been times when people have gotten trapped.
"There's a substantial history with this stretch of river," Lathrop said.