PUEBLO — A father and his son died Sunday afternoon after being ejected from a raft in the Arkansas River near Pueblo, according to the Pueblo Police Department.
The Pueblo County Coroner identified the two individuals as 46-year-old Ricardo Valencia Sanchez and 16-year-old Jose Louis Valencia, of Aurora.
Pueblo Police and Fire responded to a water rescue just before 1:30 p.m., in the area of 4 Reservoir Road, an area adjacent to the Arkansas River.
Pueblo Police said when officers arrived on scene they learned that an adult man and a teenager had been ejected from a raft and were trapped in a river hydraulic.
Police said after several minutes the raft emerged from the current and both individuals were on it, entangled in rope. Fire personnel entered the river less than one mile down from the dam and intercepted the raft as it dragged the two individuals.
Pueblo PD said both people were wearing flotation devices but were declared deceased at the shore.
