Two children die after being swept away by a fast-flowing California stream

MOUNTAIN HOME VILLAGE, California – Two young brothers died after being swept away by a fast-flowing creek in Southern California’s San Bernardino Mountains, authorities said.

The tragedy occurred Tuesday when a mother took her 4-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son to spend the afternoon at the Thurman Flat picnic area on Highway 38 near Mill Creek, the County Sheriff’s Department said. Count of San Bernardino in a press release.

They were playing along the creek when at one point the mother was caring for her son and the daughter was swept downstream, the department said.

“The mother searched for her but was unable to locate her,” the department said. “When she returned, her son was missing and was presumed to be downstream as well.”

The mother frantically searched for her two children and then walked to the picnic area and asked another family for help in the search, an effort that was unsuccessful.

Rescuers from multiple agencies arrived at the scene about 70 miles (113 kilometers) east of Los Angeles around 4 p.m. and eventually found the two children. The brothers were taken to local hospitals and pronounced dead after extensive efforts to save their lives, the department said.

The names of the children and their mothers were not immediately released.

California officials regularly warn that the state’s rivers and streams can become very dangerous when spring meltwater fills them with very cold, fast-flowing water.