National Park Service / Courtesy photo
CRAIG — A body was recovered Saturday afternoon from the scene of a rafting accident in Triplet Falls on the Green River in Dinosaur National Monument.
Monument staff received notification via satellite text message at 12:40 p.m. Saturday that a boat flipped in the Green River at Triplet Falls, resulting in an unconscious and injured 47-year-old male, who was part of a commercial rafting trip that included family and friends.
“The rafter was underwater for about 10 minutes. CPR was performed for approximately 90 minutes,” a news release from the National Park Service stated. “Classic Air Medical arrived on the scene to assess the rafter, found him unresponsive and declared him deceased.”
The man was later transported by helicopter to the Ashley Regional Medical Center in Vernal, Utah. He has been identified as Anthony Vasi, 47, from Newport Beach, California.
“National Park Service staff, Colorado Parks and Wildlife and Moffat County Sheriff’s Office were in the process of launching a rescue effort by raft from the Gates of Lodore when Classic Air Medical arrived at Triplet Falls and found the rafter deceased,” the release stated.
Triplet Falls has a Class III difficulty rating and is located along the Green River in a remote portion of Dinosaur National Monument about 12 river miles from the monument’s northern boundary near Gates of Lodore.
“The area is surrounded by steep canyon walls rising 1,200 feet and higher above the river,” the release stated. “There is no cell service in that portion of the monument.”
River flow was approximately 2,350 cubic feet per second at the time of the incident.