Raft victim's wife 'could not retrieve him'

Ann Emanuele-Zotto wishes her husband had been wearing his life vest when they went rafting with a friend on the Delaware River.

"I wonder why they aren't mandatory," the Selden resident said of the vests, a day after boaters found the body of her husband, Angelo Zotto, 71, underneath a bridge near Dingmans Ferry, Pa.

Zotto fell into the river Saturday during a camping trip when, his wife said, rough waters surprised them after their raft departed Jerry's Three River Campground in upstate Pond Eddy. His body was found Monday nearly 30 miles downstream from where he was flipped into the river, authorities said.

Emanuele-Zotto said the campground had made a safety presentation to them before their trip and urged rafters to wear their vests.

Emanuele-Zotto, 53, said the trip down the river was uneventful until the raft reached a section of the rapids called Butlers Rift, near Hawk's Nest. Angelo Zotto was manning an oar in the front of the raft, their friend was seated in the middle, and Emanuele-Zotto was at the back, also with an oar.

"We reached this area of extremely turbulent waters," she said. "The raft flipped in front, and my husband went into the water."

None of the three passengers wore life vests, she said. When her husband was flipped into the water, she said she put on her own vest and grabbed another before leaping in after him.

"The water was flowing rapidly, and I just could not retrieve him," said Emanuele-Zotto, who was rescued by passing boaters.

Divers searched for Zotto's body for nearly 48 hours, authorities said.

Loren Goering, a spokesman for the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River, a unit of the National Park Service, said the agency adheres to U.S. Coast Guard regulations on vests, which call for mandatory vests for children 12 and under. Goering said the park service requires vests for all boaters when the river runs 6 feet or higher.

Saturday, river gauges on the upper portion of the river measured 5.4 feet, about 2 1/2 times higher than normal but below the 6-foot threshold for mandatory life vest use, Goering said.