Fatality to commercial raft customer
http://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/default.aspx?tabid=71&pDesc=3692,1,1
A 26-year-old man died Sunday when he fell out of a raft in the Royal Gorge canyon. According to reports, Subhashi Nelakurthi, of Kansas, was riding in a raft with Clear Creek Rafting over a class 4 rapid when it flipped over and all of the occupants fell out it, said Fremont County Coroner Dr. Dorothy Twellman.
“There were two rafts together, who had a group of men from Kansas,” she said. “They were computer software subcontractors for an insurance company in Kansas.” The men reportedly had survived a tornado as they headed to Colorado and were here on vacation, reports said. “Unfortunately, the first raft made it through the rapid, but the second one flipped and everyone was thrown out,” Twellman said. “The people in the first raft were able to gather up some of them out of the water and actually did CPR on one man who would have drowned.”
Cañon City firefighters received the call at 3:20 p.m. Sunday and responded to First Street, where they caught the high railer into the gorge. The firefighters rode back on the train with the victim, who was transported to St. Thomas More Hospital.
Charlotte Burrous can be reached at cburrous@ccdailyrecord.com
