Siblings, 2 and 4, swept to death by California river

A four-year-girl and her two-year-old brother were swept to their deaths by a river at a mountainside California beauty spot, police said Tuesday.

Their bodies were found near a tributary of the Santa Ana River Tuesday afternoon after their mother had frantically searched for them.

Neither the children nor the mother have so far been identified.

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department and Yucaipa Police Department said in a joint statement that the family went to spend the afternoon at the Thurman Flats Picnic Area, to the east of San Bernardino.

The tranquil spot in the San Bernardino National Forest is just off Highway 38, near Mentone, and is popular for birdwatching. The Mill Creek mountain stream runs nearby.

Police said the children were playing “near the river with rapid water moving downstream.” At 3:01 p.m. local time (12:01 p.m. ET) the woman was “attending to her son while her daughter was taken downstream,” police said.

The woman searched but could not find her daughter.

“When she returned, her son was missing and assumed to be down river as well. After frantically searching, she hiked up to the picnic area and contacted another family to help search for the children but were unsuccessful in locating them,” the police statement said.

At 4:03 p.m. a search party including deputies from Yucaipa Station, Sheriff’s Air Rescue, Mentone Station County Fire and the U.S. Forest Service Rescue Crew began looking for the missing children.

Thirty minutes later the girl was found and the boy was found shortly afterwards — both were near the river’s edge.

Their bodies were found 1.5 miles from the picnic area.

The children "were transported to local hospitals, and after extensive life saving measures, they were pronounced deceased,” police said.

NBC Los Angeles reported that the woman had told her children not to go near the water and that she was injured during the search. The station also published video showing rescuers moving across fast-moving waters.

The San Bernardino County Fire Protection District warned that the dangers of such waterways had increased as mountain snow melts in warmer weather.

“We’re starting to enter into our warmer days, which attracts people out to our creeks, rivers and waterfalls. But this also coincides with the Spring melt when our water flow is typically at one of the higher rates that we see,” said Eric Sherwin, a public information officer for the fire service.

Authorities have yet to say whether anyone involved in the incident will face criminal charges. But San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department has urged anyone with information relating to their investigation to visit wetip.com.