On Saturday, October 20th, 5 people were killed in the Naranjo River when their rafts overturned. According to Luis Guzman, a Costa Rican official of the Red Cross, three rafts were overturned, all of which carried 18 people. The thirteen people that survived held onto the rafts while the other five were carried further into the river. Ernesto Sierra (confirmed by Costa Rican officials) was among those five along with Jorge Caso, Sergio Lorenzo, Andres Dennis, and Kevin Thompson Reid, the deceased Costa Rican tour guide. The Red Cross had 12 rescue workers present in the area when the accident occurred, which assisted in the rescue.  

The four Americans were all coming from the Mami area and were visiting Costa Rica for a friend’s bachelor party. According to the government, they had arrived on the 18th and had been renting a house on Playa Hermosa de Jaco. 

Authorities said that the river was inflated by rains, and an alert was maintained in the area due to the possibility of flooding.  

Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado Quesada said on his Twitter, “In the name of the Government and people of Costa Rica I would like to express our deepest sorrow for the accident this afternoon at the Naranjo River in Quepos. I would like to thank all the emergency and security teams that worked diligently, and I have instructed authorities to help the victim’s families.”