This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Two men, one a Utahn, drowned after their rafts overturned along a wild stretch of the Colorado River near Moab late Thursday.
The Grand County Sheriff's Office on Friday identified the victims as Adam Ericksen, 27, of Bountiful, and Charles McLynch, 50, of Bay Shore, N.Y.
The men were in separate rafts that were overwhelmed about 1:30 p.m. Thursday by runoff-swollen rapids in the Funnel Falls area of Westwater Canyon, about 54 miles upriver from Moab. The men were unresponsive by the time they were pulled from the river by other rafters, including several others who were thrown into the water.
McLynch was a passenger in a raft that was part of a commercial trip operated by Moab-based Sheri Griffith River Expeditions. Ericksen was in a private raft, Grand County Sheriff Steve White said.
"Apparently, there were several rafts that had gone through [Funnel Rapid] then the Griffith boat flipped and the private boat came through behind them and flipped," White said.
Efforts to revive Ericksen and McLynch at the scene were unsuccessful and the men were pronounced dead. Their bodies were turned over to the Utah Medical Examiner's Office.
No other injuries were reported.
The incidents were under investigation.
At least four other people have died while rafting the canyon over the last 16 years, The Associated Press reported.
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