2 killed after separately being carried away by Utah County rivers

Daily Herald file photo
People gather at Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon on Monday, June 29, 2015.Utah County’s swollen and swift-moving rivers — which public safety officials have warned the public from getting too close to — contributed to a pair of recent deaths.
In one incident, a 19-year-old woman seemingly got swept up in a river while hiking near Horsetail Falls in the mountains outside Alpine, according to KSL NewsRadio. In the other, a 12-year-old boy who was rescued after falling into the Provo River later died at an area hospital, the Utah County Sheriff’s Office reported. Neither victim has been publicly identified by authorities.
A search for the woman began after another hiker found her phone Friday afternoon, along with a video on it that was said to have shown the woman entering the water.
The search, conducted by members of the Utah County Search and Rescue team and several area fire departments, was aided by a Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter. The woman’s body was not located until Friday night, KSL NewsRadio reported, by which time it had become unsafe to attempt a recovery, a sheriff’s office spokesperson told the media outlet.
Her body was retrieved Saturday morning.
On Saturday afternoon, a boy fell into the rapidly running water near Bridal Veil Falls, Sgt. Spencer Cannon told the Daily Herald. Search and rescue personnel and firefighters from multiple agencies responded to the area to get him out.
Cannon said the child was spotted several times along the river as crews made several attempts to rescue him. “When you have a body in the water like that, with the water running as high as it is, you go through some areas that are a little bit more shallow, so you can see him. Or just sometimes the turbulence and the turmoil in the water will cause their body to come up towards the surface. But then it might be like little eddies that kind of stir it back down, so they may go a fair distance where you can’t see the body and that’s kind of what happened,” Cannon explained.
An Orem firefighter trained in swift-water rescue jumped into the fast-moving river and with help from a search and rescue team member who deployed a rope was ultimately able to pull the boy from the water.
The child was in the river for over half an hour and had traveled about 4 miles before being rescued just south of 800 North and University Avenue.
He was taken to a nearby hospital where he died a short time later, Cannon told the Daily Herald.
A cause of death was not given, but it’s suspected to be due to hypothermia due to very cold water from spring runoff.
Officials had already warned of high and fast-moving water along the river, citing dangerous conditions, and urged parents to keep young kids away from river edges and banks.
“The Provo River is currently running at a very fast rate throughout the county. It is EXTREMELY dangerous to recreate anywhere nearby – PLEASE STAY AWAY,” a post by the Provo Police Department’s Facebook page states. “Consider alternative locations until the flow returns to normal. If you do visit parks or trails along the Provo River, stay at least 40 feet away from riverbanks.”
On Friday, the Bureau of Reclamation in Provo said the river was near flood stage, declaring an “Emergency Level 1” alert regarding high flows coming out of Deer Creek Dam. “River flows downstream have increased to approximately 2,000 (cubic feet per second),” officials said in a social media post. “There may be minor flooding along the Provo River over the next few days.”
Cannon said the 12-year-old boy is from Arizona and was visiting Utah with family.