SALIDA, Colo. -- A Castle Rock man died after a rafting accident along the Arkansas River near Salida.

Chaffee county investigators have not released the 43-year-old's name.

They said the man complained it was hard to breathe when rescuers pulled him out of the water following the accident. Then he passed out.

The initial call came in Monday, at 1:30 pm. concerning a raft accident. A commercial raft from Wilderness Aware had flipped over in a location known as “graveyard rapid”, a Class III rapid, near the end of Brown’s Canyon.

The victim fell from the raft and attempts to reach him were unsuccessful. A second Wilderness Aware raft traveling with the first one was able to get the man into their raft and get him to shore at the boat ramp of Heckla Junction.

The victim was transported to the hospital in Salida, and after further unsuccessful attempts were made to revive him, he was pronounced dead.