SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A Utah fire captain has been identified as the man who died in a “rafting accident” in Colorado earlier this week, according to officials.
Captain Michael Harp, 54, was rafting along the Green River when he was involved in the accident, according to a press release from the Salt Lake City Fire Department. Harp was a second-generation firefighter and a 27-year veteran of the Salt Lake City Fire Department, the department said.
River Patrol Rangers were called out to look for Harp. They made their way through the Canyon of Lodore to reach the group, but were unable to locate him.
Officials said they heard from members of a commercial rafting company Friday morning. Their guides found Harp's body about 10 miles downstream. An air ambulance was called to the scene and transported Harp's body to the Moffatt County coroner's office in Colorado.
NPS NEWS RELEASE Issued June 28, 2024
Dinosaur, Colorado – The body of a 50-year-old man from Sandy, UT has been recovered after a rafting accident during a private permitted trip on the Green River in Dinosaur National Monument.
Around 4:00 pm on Thursday, June 27, monument staff were notified that a boat was pinned on a rock in the rapid named Hells Half Mile. One person from the group was missing and suspected to be pinned under the raft. The group was eventually able to unpin and secure the boat, but the person, now dislodged, unresponsive, and having lost his lifejacket, drifted downriver.
Dinosaur National Monument expresses appreciation for Classic, Adrift, River Runners Transport, Moffat County ACTSS (Advocates, Crisis, Trauma, and Survivor Services) and monument staff who assisted in search and recovery efforts, and offers condolences to the family and river community impacted by this incident.
Additional background information:
Hells Half Mile is a class III/IV rapid located on the Green River in the Canyon of Lodore in the Colorado portion (Moffat County) of Dinosaur National Monument. It is approximately 12 river miles downstream of the Gates of Lodore boat launch near the monument’s northern boundary. Flow rates for the Canyon of Lodore section of the Green River are influenced by the water release at Flaming Gorge Dam, which averaged 4700 cubic feet per second from June 25-28.
Dinosaur National Monument consists of over 210,000 acres in both Colorado and Utah. While the monument is best known for the dinosaur quarry and the fossils preserved there, the monument also contains spectacular canyons along the Green and Yampa rivers. These rivers are famous among whitewater rafters who travel here from across the globe to raft them.
https://www.nps.gov/dino/learn/news/6-27-24-fatality.htm
