Search continues for Moab man missing in Colorado River after canoe capsizes
06.18.09 - 11:05 am
Grand County Sheriff’s deputies and search and rescue workers continued their search this week for a Moab man reported missing after his canoe capsized in the Colorado River on June 11. Jody Page, 35, and another Moab man were floating through New Rapid, a whitewater rapid about 17 miles northeast of Moab, when their canoe filled with water at about 10:45 a.m., according to Grand County Chief Deputy Sheriff Curt Brewer. The other boater was able to swim to safety on the north shore of the river and contacted authorities for help.
Page was last seen in the middle of the rapid “yelling for help,” Brewer said. Page is believed to have been wearing coveralls and boots at the time of the incident, Brewer said. The other boater told authorities that the vehicle they were driving broke down on state Route 128 and the two men decided to float down the river in the canoe into town, he said.
Search crews from Grand County Search and Rescue, the National Park Service and state parks have been searching the river by boat and sheriff’s deputies are combing the shoreline looking for Page, who is presumed to have drowned, since Thursday afternoon, Brewer said. “Tentatively, we’re planning to start some night watches, putting lights on the river, on Thursday,” Brewer said. Neither man was wearing a life jacket at the time of the accident, according to a report from the sheriff’s office.
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UPDATE: 04-16-10 GRAND COUNTY, UT
Body pulled from Colorado River ID'd
<http://www.nbc11news.com/regionalnews/headlines/91613274.html> nbc11news.com (04-20-10)
A body pulled from the Colorado River has been identified by the state medical examiner's office as that of a man who fell out of a canoe last year. Authorities say 36-y/o Jody Page of Moab disappeared in a set of rapids last June. Page's body was recovered Fri. (04-16) after a motorist spotted the body floating on the Colorado River near Moab. The Grand Co. Sheriff's Office says Page's body floated nearly 40 mi. Chief Deputy Curt Brewer says his theory is that Page's body got hung up in an 80-ft-deep eddy or hole in the river and when a strap on his overalls broke and the body was set free. Page's companion survived and was picked up by a rafting party. Neither was wearing a flotation device when their canoe overturned.
