MOUNTAIN HOME VILLAGE, CA – A heartbreaking incident took place in the San Bernardino Mountains, Southern California, where a four-year-old girl and her two-year-old brother drowned after being swept away by a strong-flowing creek. The children were at a mountain picnic spot, Thurman Flat on Highway 38, close to Mill Creek, with their mother when the tragic incident occurred.
San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department revealed that the mother had been looking after her son while her daughter was inadvertently swept downstream by rapid creek waters. On discovering her daughter missing, she desperately looked for her but to no avail. On her return to her origination point, she realized her son had unfortunately met with the same fate.
The distressed mother sought assistance from another family at the picnic spot, but despite their combined efforts, they could not locate the children. An emergency call brought rescue crews from multi-agency on an arduous recovery mission. Almost 70 miles east of Los Angeles, at around 4 pm, the rescue mission located both siblings. They were immediately transported to local hospitals. Despite the substantial efforts of medical professionals, neither child could be revived.
Although authorities refrained from releasing the children’s identities immediately after the incident, the episode serves to reiterate the dire warnings issued by California authorities: the state’s rivers and streams, swollen by spring snowmelt, can become incredibly dangerous, posing a significant risk to even the strongest swimmers. The rapid water, coupled with debris, can be deadly, cautioned Amy Palmer, the spokesperson for the California Office of Emergency Services, emphasizing Californians should exercise utmost caution during these precarious periods.
As a grim reminder of water-related perils, the Kern County Sheriff’s Office in Southern Sierra Nevada continues to keep count of the death toll on a highway sign leading to the notoriously dangerous Kern River.