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Icy river teen body: The body of a teen girl was recovered a day after she jumped into an icy river to rescue her brother.
Rescue workers have recovered the body of a 16-year-old girl on Friday after she was swept away by a fast-moving river in South Dakota, a day after the teen attempted to save her young brother.
Garret Wallace, a 6-year-old boy, was playing on rocks near Big Sioux River at Falls Park on Thursday and possibly fell in, prompting sister Madison Leigh Wallace to jump into the water to save the boy, reported The Associated Press. A man, Lyle Eagletail, 28, also went into the water and has not been located yet.
It was initially reported that the boy, who is safe with his family at home, fell into the water. It is not clear how the boy was able to escape the water.
“It’s hard to say if he actually ended up in the water or not,” Police Chief Doug Barthel told AP, referring to the young boy.
Shawna Rabbit, 19, told the Argus Leader newspaper that her fiancee, Eagletail, jumped into the water.
“I saw the kid come out. Someone lifted him up,” Rabbit said, adding that she is “numbed and shocked” that her loved one is missing.
Napoleon Ducheneaux, a 21-year-old witness, told the paper that Eagletail grabbed the boy and Wallace before he lost his grip and “slipped and disappeared” into the water.
Sioux Falls Fire Rescue Chief Jim Sideras said rescue crews might have to bring in a crane break up an ice sheet over the river to assist in the search.
“We have a lot of foam. We have on the scene crews who are trained in swift water rescue and ice rescue. We also have on site a dive team. Because of the thickness of the ice, it’s not possible for that team to go in. We are still doing search patterns,” he told NBC News.
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