A 5-year-old girl died Saturday after being carried off by a river current in Mendocino County, the sheriff’s office said.
Shortly before 8:30 p.m., dispatchers from the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office received a call reporting a girl had gone into the river in Covelo. First responders were sent to the 34000 block of Etsel Ridge Road, which is near both the Black Butte and Eel rivers. By the time they arrived, the girl had already been found by private citizens, who were attempting to resuscitate her.
“Upon arrival of the Deputies, the life saving measures were being conducted in the ambulance. Unfortunately, even with the best efforts of emergency personnel, the child passed away,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
The girl has not been identified. An investigation is ongoing.
State officials have been issuing dire warnings about the summer dangers of California’s rivers. After a long winter of precipitation, rivers are full and icy cold as melting snow rushes downstream. With the weekend heat wave, even more snow melted in the Sierra.
“Portions of rivers that may have been good, calm swimming holes in past years, may no longer look the same and may now be a dangerous place to swim, in a very remote area with no resources close by to rescue a swimmer in distress,” Sara Kennedy, the boating education and outreach coordinator for California State Parks, told SFGATE recently.