Rescue crews in Morgan County recovered the body of a kayaker who disappeared Friday afternoon along the South Platte River.
Morgan County received a call at 12:15 p.m. Friday by a man who said his friend had gone over a low-head diversion dam in a kayak west of Dodd Bridge. Multiple agencies, along with dive teams, responded to the call.
The victim was initially felt to be caught within the hydraulics of the dam.
Despite the man wearing a personal flotation device and a helmet, the water created by the diversion dams in additional to the higher levels of the river due to snow melt and recent rain caused the situation to be "nearly impossible for anyone to self-rescue themselves."
The kayaker was recovered Saturday in the river between County Roads 25 and 26 just before 10:30 a.m.
He was a 23-year-old Fort Morgan resident. His identity is not being released to the public yet, pending notification of next of kin.
