POWELL, Ohio– The sky was mostly clear and weeks of sweltering heat were finally over when José Mario Pineda Días, 33, and his 28-year-old wife, Marina Suyapa Regalado, set out with their two children to leisurely fish in an Ohio river. They were joined by a second Honduran couple and an adult friend. A photo
POWELL, Ohio– The sky was mostly clear and weeks of sweltering heat were finally over when José Mario Pineda Días, 33, and his 28-year-old wife, Marina Suyapa Regalado, set out with their two children to leisurely fish in an Ohio river. They were joined by a second Honduran couple and an adult friend.
A photo taken by a passing boater sometime Sunday shows them apparently thigh-deep in the Scioto River, fishing rods in hand, standing around a large log. Although the surface appeared calm, the river was running high and fast, according to data from the United States Geological Survey. The five adults ended up drowning, authorities said.
After taking the photo, the group may have returned to shore. It’s not entirely clear. What Delaware County Sheriff Jeffrey Balzer said is that one of the adults was struggling to swim in the river when several others jumped into the water to help. The five were dragged away, he said.
The bodies of the two women were recovered on Sunday and the bodies of the three men were found on Monday.
On Tuesday, Honduran authorities confirmed that four of the five adults were Honduran citizens: Dias and Regalado and another couple whose names have not yet been revealed. The fifth adult has not yet been identified.
Flabia Zamora, director of consular affairs at the Honduran Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters Tuesday that they were working with U.S. authorities to bring their bodies home.
Zamora said that once U.S. officials have identified all the victims, Honduras will begin the repatriation process, which could take at least a month.
He said the couple’s children are in the care of the state of Ohio and that arrangements will be made to reunite them with relatives in Honduras.
One of the children, a boy wrapped only in a towel, fled the riverbank in panic and climbed onto the road as the adults drowned. According to a passing driver who called 911, “he was yelling, ‘Mom! Mom!’ and I was about to go out on the road, and I was crying.” He said he feared it was headed onto a multi-lane highway that winds along the eastern bank of the Scioto.
Brenda Raya, who described herself as a relative, launched a GoFundMe campaign to cover funeral and transportation expenses, as well as care costs for the two orphaned children. She said they are 8 and 10 years old.
“The emotional and financial burden is overwhelming and we want to honor the memory of our loved ones while also caring for the children left behind,” she wrote.
The drownings occurred along O’Shaughnessy Reservoir. The reservoir and its 29 kilometers (18 miles) of shoreline are owned by the city of Columbus. According to the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, jet skis, tubing and swimming are not allowed in any city on the Columbus Reservoir.
Lt. Heather Byers of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources said rivers can be deceptively calm on the surface.
“Even though the water doesn’t seem to be moving very fast, you can still be swept away by very slow-moving waters,” he said. “Also, since you can’t always see the bottom, you never know if you’re in, you know, you could be in 2 or 3 feet of water, which you’re comfortable standing in, and the next thing you know you’re in 4 or 5 feet.”
In addition to currents and depths, people can catch their foot on rocks, get their clothes caught on a branch, or lose their balance on slippery seaweed.
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González reported from Honduras. Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus and John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia, contributed to this report.
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