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Kayaker drowns in the Rogue Medford man's life jacket fell off after he capsized By CHRIS BRISTOL SHADY COVE -- A Medford man drowned Friday in the Rogue River when his boat capsized and the swift current tore off his unbuckled life jacket. Firefighters pulled the lifeless body of 46-year-old Carmen Derrico from the water near Casey State Park, about a mile downstream from the accident site. He was pronounced dead shortly after arrival at Providence Medford Medical Center, according to Jackson County sheriff's deputies. Witnesses said Derrico toppled from his one-man inflatable kayak at about 1:15 p.m. after he got tangled in brush along the shore. He had been rafting only about a minute, having just put in at Cole M. Rivers Fish Hatchery with three others, including his son and daughter. Even though the river runs calm near the hatchery, it also runs fast and cold. Once in the water, Derrico's life jacket quickly popped off, Marine Deputy Wally Ramsay said. "According to witnesses, it doesn't look like he had it properly secured," Ramsay said. "I'm sure cold water was also a major factor. The river is only about 50 degrees right now." Alcohol was not believed to be a factor. Ramsay said he was unsure if the victim knew how to swim. The accident was the first river fatality this year in Jackson County. A Grants Pass teenager was killed Sunday when he was swept over Rainie Falls, about 10 miles downstream from Galice in Josephine County. Little information about Derrico was available at press time. Ramsay said the victim's adult-age children were too distraught to give immediate statements. A friend of the victim who was the third member of Derrico's group told Ramsay that Derrico got hung up in brush along the riverbank and capsized as he tried to free himself. Ramsay said a group of anglers fishing from the shore at Chief Hole, about 200 feet downstream, saw Derrico struggling to swim or tread water in the current and then slip beneath the river's surface. The body was found about 30 minutes later in an eddy roughly a mile downstream near Casey State Park, Ramsay said. Witnesses saw no signs of life, but firefighters and medics attempted CPR at the park and in the ambulance on the way to the hospital in Medford. Despite its relatively calm appearance, the river from the hatchery to Rogue Elk Park has developed a notorious reputation among rescue personnel this summer. Ramsay said crews from Fire District No. 4 have made more than 30 rescues this summer along the four-mile stretch. Many accidents involve inexperienced rafters and driftboaters who get hung up on brush or other obstacles. Compounding matters, many rafters don't wear their life jackets, Ramsay said. Children 12 and under must wear one, but adults are required only to have one handy. "Here is a guy who at least has one on, which is better than crammed somewhere in the boat, but that wasn't enough here," Ramsay said. "You need to strap it on right." He said the sheriff's office and other agencies get calls occasionally from people, many of them novices, who want advice on where it's safest to go boating. Such a place does not exist, he said. "There is no safe section of river. The only way it can be safe is when we're prepared for it." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA