PUEBLO, Colo. — A father and son from Aurora have drowned after a rafting accident on the Arkansas River on Sunday, Pueblo Police said.
The Pueblo Police Department (PPD) said police and personnel from the Pueblo Fire Department responded to the area of 4 Reservoir Road at around 1:24 p.m. for a water rescue.
PPD said they were told that two males, an adult and a juvenile, had been ejected from a raft and were trapped in a river hydraulic, which is a hazard caused by water churning below a dam.
Several minutes later, police said, the raft emerged from the current with the pair entangled in a rope attached to the raft. Fire personnel went into the river less than a mile downriver from the involved dam and intercepted the raft. Both were declared dead at the scene.
The Pueblo County Coroner's Office identified them as Ricardo Valencia Sanchez, 46, and Jose Louis Valencia, 16.
Both were wearing flotation vests, PPD said.
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