TOWNSHIP 2, RANGE 10 – A 53-year-old Massachusetts man died while on a commercial rafting trip Sunday on the West Branch of the Penobscot River.

Walter Cruz, 53, of Seakonk, Mass., was a passenger on one of at least seven commercial rafts taking a whitewater rafting excursion offered by New England Outdoors when the incident occurred at approximately 11:30 a.m. Sunday, according to Lt. Doug Tibbetts of the Maine Warden Service.

The Maine Warden Service was notified about the incident at 12:09 p.m.

The rafts were below the Golden Road’s Abol Bridge at Pockwockamus Falls when five people, including Cruz, fell out of their raft. Shortly after Cruz was brought back onto the raft, he lost consciousness for a short period of time, according to Tibbetts.

“When they got Mr. Cruz pulled into the raft, he began to have an apparent medical issue,” Tibbetts said. “He became unconscious momentarily.”

Cruz, who was rafting with his 15- and 17-year-old sons from Coventry, R.I., was taken by ambulance to Millinocket Regional Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 12:41 p.m. by Dr. Joe Aquialina.

“The cause of death is unknown at this time,” said Lt. Tibbetts.