The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“The hydraulics are flowing so swiftly right now.”
By Adam Broderick
A 54-year-old woman from Longmont, Colo. drowned earlier this week in the Gunnison River south of Garlic Mike’s.
According to a Gunnison County Sheriff’s Office press release, on Monday, June 15, Gunnison County Communications was notified of a missing rafter in the Gunnison River. Swift water rescue, Gunnison-area law enforcement and EMS responded to the situation and after an extensive search the woman was recovered from the river and taken to the Gunnison Valley Hospital, where she later passed away.
Sheriff Rick Besecker told the Crested Butte News he was unsure whether the woman was caught in an eddy, or if her raft flipped, or how the incident took place. “We conducted a substantial search,” Besecker said. “Not only did we search by raft and foot, but by air. We sent a plane with a spotter up. It was difficult to tell how far she would have traveled because it’s difficult to track something in water that fast until you can actually locate it. The hydraulics are moving so swiftly right now.”
The woman’s name was not released in an effort to protect her family. “Her family was extremely distraught and far beyond our approach. We decided to give them some space,” Besecker said.
