6 teen drown in red river in Louisiana

[cathryn]

6 Teens Drown in Louisiana's Red River
Lisa Flam
Contributor

AOL News (Aug. 3) -- With one life jacket among them, six teenagers who couldn't swim drowned in a Louisiana river when they waded off a sandbar and into water that dropped as much as 30 feet, leaving two families wailing and screaming in horror. A seventh teenager was pulled alive from the Red River.

The victims, aged 13 to 18, were wading in a 3-foot deep sandy beach in the Red River in the Charles and Marie Hamel Memorial Park in Shreveport Monday evening when they ventured into an unfamiliar area and entered water that suddenly got 20 to 30 feet deeper, Shreveport Assistant Fire Chief Fred Sanders in an interview today.

"The terrain of the river is unstable," Sanders said. "They were on a beachy, sandy area with a steep drop-off."

The teenagers were part of a large group, with about 20 children, that had been enjoying a day at the river to swim and barbecue, Marilyn Robinson, who was there, told The Times of Shreveport.

"None of us could swim," said Robinson, 38. "They were yelling 'help me, help me. Somebody please help me.' It was nothing I could do but watch them drown one by one."

Friends and relatives of the six, including the two mothers, were wailing, crying and screaming as the children went under the water, said Sanders, who was there. "They were just starting the grief cycle," he said. "Quite naturally, they were upset and hysterical."

Fire Chief Brian Crawford told the Shreveport newspaper that after one child went into an unfamiliar area, others followed. "And once one started toppling into that sinkhole grabbing ahold of another, trying to save another, eventually seven were pulled into the hole," he said. They had one life jacket among them.

Sanders said the domino effect is a possibility. "We're not sure if when one went in and grabbed another trying to save themselves or if others actually went in when they saw their friends and family go in and try to save them, not considering that they could drown because they couldn't swim."

Hearing the families screaming, other people in the park rescued a 14-year-old boy, who did not need to go to the hospital, Sanders said.

Crawford and Sanders say it's the worst accident they've seen.

"We've had drownings before but never to this magnitude where six teenage children drown at the same time," Sanders said today. "The day will be etched in the minds of many of us here in Shreveport."

"Unfortunately, I'm afraid, and it's with a heavy heart, to report that we have pulled so far [six] bodies from the river ... I can honestly say that in my 26 years of service I've never seen anything of this magnitude. And I hope I never see it again," he told the paper. "It's truly catastrophic and I can only imagine the effect it has on the families."

Sanders said three brothers from one family drowned and two brothers and a sister from another drowned. Both families are from Shreveport. Their names have not yet been released but authorities planned a news conference for later this morning.

The Fire Department got a 911 call at 6:33 p.m. but the caller gave an imprecise location, Sanders said. Other units that responded from a different direction were flagged down by the families and arrived at 6:40 p.m. but did not see anybody in the water. Divers recovered the first body at 7:51 p.m., the final one just after 10 p.m.

Louise Edwards said it was hard to stand by and watch helplessly.

"Some people tried to jump in, but they were already gone," she told The Times of Shreveport, with tears rolling down her cheek. "It's like a nightmare. Lord please help us, please."


http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/6-...-river/19578644

what a horrible tragedy.
my thoughts and prayers go out to the families.i can not even begin to imagine the pain and horror those families have went through and are gonna be facing for years to come.


it also worries me cause Jerry does some trapping on the Red in Louisiana so now im gonna be more worried than usual come fall.

its, i believe, the same river where a trapper lost his life last year.