Five people are dead after a desperate attempt to save a struggling swimmer in an Ohio river turned into a devastating chain tragedy.
Authorities said the nightmare unfolded Sunday along the Scioto River in Powell, a Columbus suburb, after a group gathered near the water and one person went in for a swim. Moments later, that swimmer began having trouble, prompting others in the group to jump in and try to help.
Instead, the rescue attempt quickly became a disaster.
“And that’s when the tragedy started to occur,” Delaware County Sheriff Jeffrey Balzer said at a Monday news conference.
According to officials, a passing motorist called 911 after spotting a frightened child who had been with the group running along a nearby road. The discovery led first responders to the river, where rescue crews began searching the water.
Crews found two women on Sunday. Both were rushed to a hospital, where they were pronounced dead, Balzer said.
The search continued into Monday, when authorities recovered the bodies of three men from the river, according to Tracy Whited, a spokesperson for the Delaware County Sheriff’s Department.
Two children under the age of 10 have since been placed in the care of family services, the sheriff said. One of them was the child who ran for help after the terrifying incident began.
Officials have not yet released the names of the five victims.
The deadly scene has stunned the quiet Columbus-area community and serves as a heartbreaking reminder of how quickly a day near the water can turn fatal. What appears to have started as one swimmer in distress ended with multiple people entering the river in an effort to help — and none of them making it out alive.
The Ohio tragedy came just two days after another devastating incident in southern Utah, where five members of one family were killed when a flash flood swept through canyons during a hiking trip.
Authorities have not yet released additional details about what caused the swimmer to struggle or whether river conditions played a role in the deaths. The investigation remains ongoing.
