Conditions along area rivers are proving to be dangerous even to professional divers.
A fun day in the Platte River ended in dramatic fashion Thursday.
It all started when a group of friends were playing in the river near Confluence Park. Witnesses said an unidentified 21-year-old man tried crossing the river but couldn't make it.
Brianna Bernard is friends with the man and said everything happened so quickly.
"We started walking up the river trying to find him but couldn't, so we started asking people did they see him and they didn't," said Bernard.
The man was eventually found holding onto the 15th Street Bridge. Firefighters eventually rescued the man by lowering a crew member. The man was then hoisted to safety.
Current conditions along area rivers are proving to be dangerous even to professional divers.
"You've got the high-velocity, high-volume water at this part of the river and people don't understand how powerful it is," said Capt. J.C. Hebert with the Denver Fire Department.
The man who was rescued looked uninjured but was taken to the hospital as a precaution. Paramedics on the scene were concerned that the man had been in the frigid water for a long period of time.
The man's friends are happy with the way the ordeal ended. They know how easily things could've been different.
"They found him and that's what's good," said Bernard.
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