Four victims who drowned in Ohio river trying to save distressed swimmer are identified
Four victims who drowned in an Ohio river trying to save a distressed swimmer have been identified.
Two married couples from Honduras, Miguel Ángel Guerra and Carmen Idalia Lara Ferrera, both 33, and José Mario Pineda, 33, and Marina Suyapa Regalado Miranda, 29, died in the Scioto River Sunday, officials from the Central American country confirmed to ABC News.
A group of five adults and two children were believed to have gone on a fishing trip Sunday evening at the Scioto River in the Columbus suburb of Powell when one of the adults went for a swim, according to reports.
As the person was struggling in the water, the other adults went into the river to help. But they all ended up getting swept under as the river was running high and fast, the Associated Press reported.
The identity of the fifth adult has yet to be revealed.
The Honduran embassy in Washington, D.C., told The Independent, “The Government of Honduras mourns the loss of its citizens; we offer our prayers and deepest condolences to their families.”
Flabia Zamora with the Honduran Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that they were working with U.S. authorities to bring the couples’ bodies home, according to the AP.
The repatriation process takes about one and a half months “once the documentation has been submitted and identities verified,” the Honduran embassy told The Independent.
The two children, who reportedly said belonged to Pineda and Miranda, are in the care of Ohio officials, Zamora said. They will eventually be reunited with relatives in Honduras, according to the Honduran official.
Two people called 911 on Sunday to report seeing a child in a towel running along a highway near the river, audio obtained by ABC News revealed.
“There was a little baby. I think it was like a boy…He was like screaming, like crying — like, ‘Mama, mama!'” one of the callers told the dispatcher.
The bodies of two women were found Sunday, and the bodies of three men were recovered on Monday.
“Even though the water doesn’t seem to be moving very quickly, you can still get swept away in very slow-moving water,” Lieutenant Heather Byers of Ohio’s Department of Natural Resources told the AP.
“Also, since you can’t always see the bottom, you never know if you’re in, you know, you could be in 2 to 3 feet of water, what you’re comfortable standing in, and then the next thing you know you’re at 4 or 5 feet,” she added.
Delaware County Sheriff Jeffrey Balzer cautioned that people should be cognizant of their abilities around water.
“Know your skill level before you get in the water,” Balzer said. “Are you a confident swimmer?”
Sunday’s drownings follow another water-related tragedy.
On Friday, a fire department captain, his wife and their three sons were killed on a hiking trip after a flash flood swept through a southern Utah canyon.
