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63-year-old man dies while kayaking on Arkansas River in Fremont County

The Arkansas River

SALIDA, Colo. — The body of a 63-year-old man from Saguache County was recovered after he was spotted floating in the Arkansas River on Monday morning.

The man, who had been kayaking, was recovered near the Wellsville Bridge on U.S. Highway 50 at mile marker 227 by crews from the Salida Fire Department and Arkansas Headwaters.

The man — identified as Tom Osbourne McMurray of Creston, according to the Fremont County coroner and reported by the Canyon City Daily Record — was wearing a helmet, personal flotation device and a wetsuit.

Officials with the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office believe the victim launched his inflatable kayak upstream near Saliada, but it’s not know what happened afterward.

There have been five drownings on the Arkansas River in the past two weeks, the Colorado Springs Gazette reported.

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