Fremont County authorities are investigating the death of a man who was on a private, self-guided tubing trip down the Arkansas River east of Portland in Fremont County on Saturday.

CPW’s Arkansas River Recreation Area (AHRA) rangers received word around 11am that a man was receiving CPR near the riverbank several miles below Portland. Multiple first response agencies were mobilized — including Florence EMS, the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office, the Fremont County Coroner and CPW.

Reports indicate that the group of seven were on innertubes and had entered the river near the town of Portland several miles upstream, planning on floating to their private camp several miles downstream. The parties were tubing downriver, but got separated and one man fell off his tube and went overboard. The male was last seen sans tube in the water. He is in his mid-thirties and around six feet tall.

A man who was fishing nearby saw the non-responsive person in the river and was able to fish the person out of the river and pull him to the shore, and then he and several others performed CPR for approximately six minutes prior to the EMTs’ arrival to continue the CPR.

No efforts at resuscitation were successful, and the victim was pronounced deceased at the scene by medical staff from Fremont County. No flotation device was observed worn by or in the vicinity of the victim at the time of the incident.

‘Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the victim.’ ­­– Tom Waters, AHRA park manager.  The body was then turned over to the Fremont County Coroner for a determination of the cause of death and formal identification and next of kin notification.

Colorado is on track to set another record for water-related deaths in 2023, after a summer in 2022 that saw a total of 42 fatalities from drowning.

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