{"id":949186,"date":"2026-07-21T07:41:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T07:41:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/949186\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T07:41:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T07:41:22","slug":"5-dead-after-two-sets-of-parents-rush-into-ohio-river-to-rescue-struggling-swimmer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/949186\/","title":{"rendered":"5 dead after two sets of parents rush into Ohio River to rescue struggling swimmer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Five people, including two sets of parents, horribly died trying to rescue a struggling swimmer in an Ohio river on Sunday night \u2014 leaving multiple young children orphans.<\/p>\n<p>A group of five adults, two children, and another individual was out on the Scioto River to \u201cenjoy themselves a summer night\u201d of fishing when the tragedy unfolded, Delaware County Sheriff Jeffrey Balzer\u00a0said at a news conference on Monday.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/columbusdispatch\/videos\/scioto-river-drownings-press-conference\/27561065933545892\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Five people drowned during an attempt to rescue a struggling swimmer from the Scioto River on Sunday night. AP Photo\/Jay LaPrete<\/p>\n<p>At some point, one adult went into the water to swim and began struggling, prompting two other adults to dive in to try to save them. After the pair also began to struggle, another two adults went in to help, Balzer described. <\/p>\n<p>None of them made it out of the river alive. <\/p>\n<p>Authorities rushed to the scene after a motorist noticed a \u201cclearly distraught\u201d young child running along a nearby road around 9 p.m. and called 911. <\/p>\n<p>The terrified child said that his \u201cfamily was in the river,\u201d cops said. <\/p>\n<p>Two women were then pulled from the river and taken to nearby hospitals, where they were pronounced dead. <\/p>\n<p>Authorities were alerted to the scene after a motorist noticed a distraught young child running along a nearby road. AP Photo\/Jay LaPrete<\/p>\n<p>The bodies of three men were recovered later on Monday from the river in Powell, north of Columbus, according to Tracy Whited, a spokesperson for the Delaware County Sheriff\u2019s Office. It\u2019s unclear where the trio were located. <\/p>\n<p>Two sets of parents were among the five killed in the chaos, the sheriff added. <\/p>\n<p>Two young children under the age of 10 who were with the group have since been placed in family services, Balzer said. <\/p>\n<p>Authorities have not yet publicly identified the five people who drowned. The exact circumstances around their deaths remain unclear.<\/p>\n<p>Two unidentified women were pulled from the river on Sunday night, and another three men were recovered on Monday.  AP Photo\/Patrick Aftoora-Orsagos<\/p>\n<p>The river was running high and fast, flowing at a rate of 350 cubic feet per second on Sunday, according to data from a US Geological Survey water gauge at the nearby dam. The number is more than double the average rate.<\/p>\n<p>Balzer urged people to ensure they have the proper safety devices and are confident in their swimming abilities before going into the water. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cKnow your skill level before you get in the water. Are you a confident swimmer?\u201d Balzer said. \u201cMake sure you have other people around in case something goes wrong to notify someone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With Post Wires<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five people, including two sets of parents, horribly died trying to rescue a struggling swimmer in an Ohio&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":949187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,5416,23097,48396,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,1573,18946,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":["post-949186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-deaths","tag-drownings","tag-freak-accidents","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-ohio","tag-swimming","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-us-news","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116956842471876421","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=949186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/949187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=949186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=949186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=949186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}