2 Feared Dead After Trying to Save Boy in River

Adults missing in SD, but boy who fell in is safe
By Mark Russell,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 15, 2013 7:45 AM CDT
Updated Mar 15, 2013 8:11 AM CDT
2 Feared Dead After Trying to Save Boy in River
A 6-year-old boy is safe after falling into the water at Falls Park Thursday night. But rescue teams believe two people who jumped in the water to save the child have died.   (MrDraftCentral)

Emergency teams have changed their search from rescue to recovery, after two people went missing in the raging Big Sioux River in South Dakota yesterday evening, reports the AP. After a 6-year-old boy fell into the churning waters, just downstream from local falls, a female relative and a man rushed into the water to save him, reports KDLT News. The boy was able to climb out of the water, but his rescuers disappeared under huge amounts of foam, about 6 to 10 feet thick.

"I was using my jacket to fan all the suds and stuff away but, you know, I heard him and the woman talking. He said something like, ‘You hold on to me, I'll hold on to you,’ and I kept telling them to come to my voice," said one witness. With a dam just downstream, emergency crews think the bodies are in a narrow area under a pedestrian bridge. The missing adults have not been identified, although officials said the relative was not the boy's mother. (More Big Sioux River stories.)

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