SerpApi.Org
Two young children whose parents died in a drowning incident over the weekend are stuck alone in the U.S. without any adult relatives, authorities and family members reported.
The now-orphaned children, aged 8 and 10, lost their parents, Jose Mario Pineda Dias, 33, and Marina Suyapa Regalad, 28, on Sunday when the two heroically jumped into the Scioto River in Ohio — along with another married couple — to save an adult friend from drowning after he leaped into the water for a swim. Unfortunately, all five died in the water, according to Delaware County Sheriff Jeffrey Balzer and Honduran authorities.
The incident unfolded as a tragic domino effect as two adults went after their friend, but soon began to drown themselves. Two more adults dived into the water after them, only to die as well.
• Looksmaxxing influencer Connor Murphy dead at 32 after drowning while fleeing police
• Arizona boy found alive in morgue 5 hours after 'drowning' as parents face abuse charges
Balzar detailed the dark occurrence this week during a press conference, revealing that three men's corpses were recovered at the scene, and two women who were pulled from the river were later pronounced dead at the hospital.
Authorities were called to the scene by a motorist who reported a "clearly distraught" young child wearing only a towel, sprinting along the road around 9 p.m.
The child eerily told responding police that his “family was in the river.”
The two pairs of married couples who died Sunday were citizens of Honduras, authorities said. The second couple and the single adult in the group have not been identified.
Officials of the Honduran Foreign Ministry are working with U.S. authorities to bring the victims' bodies home, according to Flabia Zamora, the director of consular affairs.
The repatriation process will begin once U.S. officials identify all five victims. That feat will take at least one month, the agency said. Authorities are also investigating how the adults became overwhelmed by the water, which they said was running high and fast.
The river was flowing at a dangerously high rate of 350 cubic feet per second on Sunday, which is more than double the average rate, according to data from a U.S. Geological Survey water gauge at the nearby dam.
The children are in the custody of Ohio family services as they wait to be reunited with their relatives in Honduras.
The gruesome drownings happened along the O’Shaughnessy Reservoir, including a reservoir and 18 miles of shoreline in Columbus. The city's Recreation and Parks Department prohibits Jet Skis, tubing, and swimming in any of the city of Columbus's reservoirs.
Click here to follow the Mirror US on Google News to stay up to date with all the latest news, sports and entertainment stories
The rivers can be deceptively tame, according to Lt. Heather Byers of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
“Even though the water doesn’t seem to be moving very quickly, you can still get swept away in very slow-moving water,” she said. “Also, since you can’t always see the bottom, you never know if you’re in, you know, you could be in 2 to 3 feet of water, what you’re comfortable standing in, and then the next thing you know you’re at 4 or 5 feet.”
