There is an ongoing search for a missing 10-year-old girl in the Passaic River. At roughly 6:30 PM on Wednesday night three children went missing in the Passaic River. Since then, one girl is still missing as rescuers resumed the search for her Thursday morning. Another girl was saved by her 10-year-old brother who tragically drowned while pushing her out of the water. He was found Wednesday night.
“His family is hurting and suffering and grieving the loss. Our community is feeling the loss. Police and the firefighters and the prosecutor and the Sheriff and the State Police and all the volunteers are feeling the loss,” Passaic Mayor Hector Lora said, stressing, “I ask for your prayers for the families that are hurting because the days that are following are going to be very hard.”
Mayor Lora said that the authorities have shifted from a rescue to a recovery mission as the community prays for the safety of the missing girl. “We can’t sleep. We’re anticipating the news on what’s going on with this little girl. It’s breaking our hearts to not know what’s happening, and we’re just hoping for the best,” one woman said to CBS New York.
On the night of the tragedy, a neighbor jumped into the water to try to save the children but was unable to fight the current. The community has also been conducting their own search parties from Wednesday night into Thursday morning but have been unable to find the missing girl.
Witnesses told PIX11 News that the kids were playing in the water before the current took them. Wednesday morning, Paterson Police issued a social media warning to residents saying the Passaic River’s “fast-moving water remains dangerous” in the wake of recent severe thunderstorms and flooding across northern New Jersey. It remains unclear how the kids ended up in the river.
Reports state that the Passaic River was running over two feet above baseline on Thursday morning, “And the flow rate at the USGS gauge downstream at Little Falls registered a flow of almost 2,000 cubic feet per second, a tenfold increase over the tranquil 200 cubic feet per second from before the heavy rain on Tuesday.” said New Jersey 101.5 Chief Meteorologist Dan Zarrow.
Communities and families are urged to keep young children away from water unsupervised as this boy is the fourth person and third child to die in New Jersey waters in the past two weeks.
