SALON

Friday, Aug 17, 2012 9:45 AM UTC

Boy dies, brother missing in river in Yosemite

By

Topics: From the Wires,

Boy dies, brother missing in river in YosemiteFILE - In this July 20, 2011 file photo, a hiker takes a photo from the top of Vernal Falls in Yosemite Wednesday July 20, 2011. Yosemite National Park officials say one boy is dead and another is missing after they were swept away Wednesday Aug. 15, 2012 in the Merced River. Park officials say the two were part of a family visiting from Southern California that had been hiking near the Vernal Fall Footbridge. (AP Photo/GosiaWozniacka, File)(Credit: AP)

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Authorities were searching a stretch of the Merced River for a 6-year-old boy after his older brother died when a current swept them away during a family outing in Yosemite National Park.

The boy is presumed dead. Other hikers pulled the body of his 10-year-old brother about 150 yards downstream from where family members had waded into the river to cool off Wednesday.

Their mother was hospitalized with a back injury after being pulled from the river, park spokeswoman Kari Cobb said.

“She went into the river but made it out,” Cobb said.

The names of the boys were not immediately released.

The family from Southern California was hiking near the Vernal Fall Footbridge, a vantage point on the Mist Trail where Vernal Fall first comes into view.

That portion of the hike can be perilous. The river falls 317 feet straight down to a narrow gorge filled with boulders the size of cars, then descends another 400 feet by the time it reaches the bridge.

Even when the river is moving slowly, the drop in elevation and narrow channel cause the water to move swiftly. The Merced River runs through the heart of Yosemite Valley.

The boys were part of a group of about 15 extended family members who made the short hike to the bridge, park spokesman Scott Gediman said. Signs at the trailhead warn that the river can be dangerous, but people often are drawn to the water’s edge.

“We’ve got a low water year this year, and around the banks it’s only 8 to 10 inches deep, but once you get out further, we have a swift current and it gets deeper,” Gediman said. “They both got swept away by the current.”

The location also was the site of tragedy last summer when three Central California friends cooling off in a pool above the fall were swept to their deaths. Two of their bodies were discovered months later lodged under boulders near the site where the 10-year-old boy was found.

A 57-year-old man drowned two weeks ago in the Merced River when he was pinned under a rock, and another person died in June on the south fork of the river near the Wawona area in the park.

The trail remained open during the search for the boy but portions might be closed depending upon developments.

More By Tracie Cone.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Anyone Regret Slashing National Weather Service Budget Now?: With GOP-backed cuts to forecasting agency, experts warn future storms will go undetected and more lives lost
724 points725 points | 316 comments
vote
Oklahoma senator: Tornado aid “totally different” from Sandy aid
940 points941 points | 334 comments
vote
Oklahoma senator wants to offset tornado aid with other cuts
103 points104 points | 33 comments
vote
Watchdogs: ABC “in danger of losing a lot of credibility” on Benghazi saga
41 points42 points | 8 comments
vote
Horrifying new trend: Posting rapes to Facebook " In Chicago this weekend, prosecutors announced three teenaged boys will tried as adults for aggravated criminal sexual assault after allegedly raping a 12-year-old girl — and posting a video of the attack on Facebook."
18 points19 points | 10 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations