Lake Shasta in California.Photo:Getty
Getty
Two children have died after they were caught in a hillside collapse in California on Thursday.
The Shasta County Sheriff’s Office shared in anews releaseon social media that its officers responded to a campground area north of Shasta Dam at around 9 a.m. local time after getting areportthat two children had “fallen from the camping area to the river.”
Upon arrival, they determined that “rocks and debris had broken away from a hillside” and the two children had been caught in the debris and had “fallen down the hillside.” Officers located the children in the debris and noted that they had “suffered injuries” during the fall. They were pronounced dead at the scene, per the release.
Members of the sheriff’s office search and rescue team, dive team, boating safety unit and other agencies responded to the scene to aid in the recovery of the two children.
Police said their bodies were then transported to the Shasta County Coroner’s Office for “post-mortem examinations.” The names of the children are not being released at this time.
The area where the children fell had been located “downstream” from the Shasta Dam, according to police, and the sheriff’s office had asked the Bureau of Reclamation to lower the water releases from the dam in order to help with search and recovery efforts.
Non-essential vehicle traffic across the dam was also halted so that agency vehicles could make their way through the area.
“All agencies involved send their deepest condolences to the families,” the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
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Traffic across the dam resumed shortly after 11 a.m. local time and the area was also reopened.
source: people.com
