Six teenagers from at least two families drowned in the Red River in northwest Louisiana after they stepped off a ledge from shallow water into a 18-foot sinkhole Monday, fire officials said.
Shreveport Fire Chief Brian Crawford told the Shreveport Times that the victims, aged 13 to 18, had drowned while trying to save each other. Only one, a 14-year-old, was rescued.
Emergency crews on both sides of the river responded to reports of a single person drowning before 6:30 p.m., just south of the area in Charles and Marie Hamel Memorial Park. It took fire officials about 10 minutes to locate the sinkhole, and that’s when they learned there were multiple victims.
Dive teams from Shreveport and Bossier fire departments, as well as members of the Caddo Parish sheriff’s office, searched the water about an hour before recovering the first body. By 10:30 p.m., all the bodies were recovered.
None could swim
Marilyn Robinson, a friend of the families, watched helplessly as the children, five boys and a girl, went under, the Times reported.
“None of us could swim,” the 38-year-old told the newspaper. “They were yelling ‘help me, help me. Somebody please help me.’ It was nothing I could do but watch them drown one by one.”
With tears rolling down her face, Louise Edwards, another witness, added: “It was hard watching them and not being able to help. Some people tried to jump in, but they were already gone. It’s like a nightmare. Lord please help us, please.”
Robinson said a group of family and friends, including about 20 children, had been out at a sandbar to barbecue and enjoy the water. She said they were familiar with the area, the Times reported.
Crawford was clearly affected by the tragedy as he announced the deaths.
“Unfortunately, I’m afraid, and it’s with a heavy heart, to report that we have pulled so far (six) bodies from the river,” he said, according to the Times. “I can honestly say that in my 26 years of service I’ve never seen anything of this magnitude. And I hope I never see it again.
“It’s truly catastrophic and I can only imagine the effect it has on the families,” he added.
Unfamiliar area
The teens had started playing in the area that they knew.
“One child ventured off into an area that he was unfamiliar with, and some of the other children had gone off with him,” Crawford told the Times. “They went into the vicinity of an 18-foot sinkhole.”
“And once one started toppling into that sinkhole grabbing a hold of another, trying to save another, eventually seven were pulled into the hole,” he added.
Assistant fire chief Fred Sanders said it was believed the dead included three brothers from one family and a sister and two brothers from another.
The families were in recreational area of the Red River, Sanders said. The park is a popular picnic and fishing area and some people go wading.
“It’s devastating,” Sanders said. “To my knowledge the city has never experienced an incident of this magnitude. Unfortunately, neither the children nor the adults could swim.”
The Times reported that only one life jacket was available.
Shreveport Mayor Cedric Glover, members of the City Council and Caddo Schools Superintendent Dr. Gerald Dawkins arrived at the scene with rescue crews.
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Speaking for my race, I have no idea why so many of us don’t know how to swim. It’s a real problem. I’ve never had to have someone teach me…I don’t find it that difficult. :/
I feel sorry for the kids…and when i think of the people that just stood by…WTF? Six kids dead and gone…
And Mammy…PLEASE tell me you’re joking.
And btw…some of my best friends are white…as well as my boyfriend. Not all blacks hate white people, and vice versa.
Black people don’t swim because they are afraid of being bitten by fish.
I live in Shreveport. The Red River is red for a reason. Clay. Red clay. It is slippery. The “sink hole” isn’t a sink hole and the fire dept corrected their statement soon after it was made. It is just a deep spot on the bottom, and it is 28 feet, not 18. I think they were wading, and slipped off into the deep spot. Their feet may have even gotten stuck in the soft, slippery clay.
Either way, they had no business being in the water if they couldn’t swim.
The word is that a family member, or other onlooker didn’t want to ruin her new hairdo, and refused to jump in and try to help.
This woman has no conscience. Her vanity is more important than a human life. I doubt if she even has enough conscience to lose any sleep over her ignorance. Three were indeed from one family, the Warners, and three were from another family, the Stewarts.
And a black woman was too proud to save members of her own race, because she didn’t want to mess her hair up.
This is a fact.
Now, the fire dept is putting on swimming and water survival classes at the local pools.
A day late and 6 lives short?
WHY DON’T BLACK PEOPLE TEACH THEIR KIDS HOW TO SWIM? OR GET SOMEONE TO TEACH THEM? I MEAN DON’T YOU PEOPLE LOVE YOUR CHILDREN? TONS AND TONS OF BLACK PEOPLE WATCHED THOSE KIDS DROWN. I LIVE HERE. I KNOW.
THEY DON’T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THEIR CHILDREN. THEY LET THEM ROAM THE STREETS WITH THEIR PANTS DOWN AND THEIR ASSES HANGING OUT. WOULD YOU LET YOUR CHILD DRESS LIKE THAT?
AND HEY PRINCESS, DON’T MESS YOUR HAIR UP ON MY ACCOUNT EITHER. AIRHEAD BITCH. GOOD LUCK THE DAY YOU NEED YOUR BLACK ASS SAVED.
I FEEL SO SORRY FOR THOSE CHILDREN. THEIR AGES RANGED FROM 13-18.
BWAHAHAHAHA! FUCKING NIGGERS!
Okay, I will ask this and yes will probably be flamed for it, but just very curious… Why don’t most black people know how to swim? If a white baby is thrown in the water, it will do the natural thing and swim or at least have a good crack at it… Not saying that you should ever do that… but you know what I mean. I’ve spent a lot of time in the Caribbean and see blacks at the beach, but not swimming!
Huh? Uhm…food for thought. White people….(babies,teens, adults, etc)…drown too. >.<
And Idk…I guess if I had to think about it…some might just feel like there's no need? Like I said…i'm not really sure. I think it's pretty stupid not to when it could save you or your childs life.
A white person saved one of the kids, yet blacks continue to hate whites.
That stupid family never should have gone near the river since the couldn’t swim.
It is a tragedy that swimming is obviously not a priority for the US department of schooling.
Especially in counties where the pursuit of happiness often involves being on,in or near stretches and expanses of water.
:roll:
I read this from my email without the photos. My first thought was, “typical red-necks” and then I saw the pic. sigh, I stand corrected. People in general are stupid. Seriously? Let’s play in a river and not know how to swim then get all worked up when people die. LOL, shaking head. It’s like getting crazy when your kid blows his head off with the loaded gun YOU gave him.
Are you shitting me??
My Lord, sinful-humanity is devolving faster then I originally thought.