UPDATE: Victim in rafting accident identified

The Elmore County Sheriff's Department has identified a Boise valley man as the individual who died in a rafting accident on the South Fork of the Boise River on Sunday.

Richard Arave, 61, was rafting on the river with his son and friends when the raft overturned while attempting to negotiate the rapids at Buffalo Creek approximately 1 1/2 miles upstream from Neal Bridge on Blacks Creek Road.

Witnesses reported seeing the overturned raft continue to float down stream but didn't see Arave come up out of the water.

Deputies and search and rescue teams conducted a sweep from Danskin Bridge to Arrow Rock Reservoir using a boat, raft and drone. Air St. Luke's provided additional resources by flying a helicopter over the search area.

The sheriff's office and search and rescue team worked with the Idaho Bureau of Reclamation to slow the water flow so that search efforts attempt to locate the rafter. This process took about nine hours to drop the water levels to safely sweep the area of interest to locate the victim.

Arave's body was located Tuesday morning in very swift and a dangerous area on the river.

Recovery efforts were suspended on Tuesday due to the serious risk the fast-moving water posed to recovery personnel. According to Sheriff Rick Layher, members of the county search and rescue team are expected to try again on Wednesday.

"The Elmore County Sheriff's Office is working with the Bureau of Reclamation in an effort to lower the water again tomorrow (June 29) to attempt a recovery effort," the sheriff's department stated in a press release. "We need to make sure the safety of our recovery personnel are at the foremost of this recovery."

This latest incident was the second on this part of the river in recent weeks. With large numbers of people expected to travel into the mountains over the Fourth of July weekend, sheriff's department officials urge those planning on traveling on the river to use extreme caution.

River levels are running high with obstructions constantly being pushed downstream by the force of the water, officials said.