5 dead in attempt to save a struggling swimmer in an Ohio river, sheriff says
POWELL, Ohio — Five people have died on a river in Ohio after several of them went into the water to help another person who was struggling to swim, authorities said Monday.
A motorist called 911 after spotting a frightened child with the group who was running along a nearby road to seek help, Delaware County Sheriff Jeffrey Balzer said at a news conference Monday.
The group had gathered Sunday along the Scioto River in the Columbus suburb of Powell when one of them went into the river for a swim. “And that’s when the tragedy started to occur,” Balzer said, adding others who jumped in to help also began struggling.
Rescue crews searching the water later Sunday found two women who were subsequently pronounced dead at a hospital, Balzer said. The bodies of three men were found in the river on Monday, said Tracy Whited, a spokesperson for the Delaware County Sheriff’s Department.
The tragedy occurred two days after five members of a family were killed in southern Utah after a flash flood swept through scenic red rock canyons during a hiking excursion.
The Ohio sheriff said the child who ran for help, prompting the 911 call, has been placed in the care of family services along with another child under the age of 10.
Authorities were working on notifying relatives of the victims, Balzer said.
He said people who gather near water must be aware of the conditions and take precautions.
“Know your skill level before you get in the water. Are you a confident swimmer?” Balzer said. “Make sure you have other people around in case something goes wrong to notify someone. Wear a life preserver. Wear a life jacket. I get it. People think that somehow those are just for kids. But I tell you, they save everybody’s lives.”
The Scioto River runs for about 230 miles from west-central Ohio, flowing southeast through Columbus, the state's capital city, before ultimately reaching its confluence with the Ohio River in Portsmouth in the southern part of the state.
Law enforcement agents were staged Monday at a grassy area near a reservoir in the northern Columbus suburb of Powell on Monday. About a dozen people were standing by, waiting to speak with authorities on a local route, Riverside Drive.
Riverside Drive is the main road stretching north and south along the river that is largely residential in the sections that pass through Powell and the neighboring suburb of Dublin. Parks, public docks and fishing areas are scattered along the east side of the river off Riverside Drive. Large, secluded homes sit along the west side of the river with private boat docks at the rivers’ shore.
The staging area is also less than a mile from a designated fishing area on the O’Shaughnessy Reservoir. The reservoir was created by the city of Columbus in 1925, mainly to provide water to the city’s residents.
Although authorities did not confirm exactly where that the victims were found, the water in the location reaches a maximum depth of about 40 feet though it’s mostly about 20 feet deep or less in the area, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
