Published: August 13, 2008 08:53 pm      

NIAGARA FALLS: Girl swept away in gorge current

A 12-year-old girl was swept away by the Niagara River current after she sat down on a rock to dip her feet Wednesday afternoon.

Local law enforcement agencies are still searching for her.

The girl, whom police declined to identify until the family is notified, was part of a Polish Catholic tour group, including several guides and about 20 children, ages 12 to 15 years old, said Lt. Patrick Moriarity of the New York State Park Police. They hiked down the Ongiara Trail at Whirlpool State Park before the girl fell into the river at roughly 12:40 p.m.

A release from state Park Police identified the group as from the New York City area.

“We’re still actively searching for the girl,” said Park Police Detective Tom Franz late Wednesday afternoon. “We haven’t located her yet but we’re still searching for her.”

Valerie and James Wood, both of Kenmore, were hiking just behind the group when the girl fell in.

“A couple of the girls were playing near the water,” Valerie said. “We didn’t see her fall in. I saw her when maybe she was about 10 feet in the water.

“I yelled to my husband to jump in and get her, but by the time I saw her again, she was about 20 feet out.”

James ran down the bank to try and keep track of the girl while Valerie stayed with the group. Several of the girl’s friends said that the girl wasn’t a good swimmer “at all,” she said.

“At about 75 feet out she went under,” Valerie said. “It didn’t look like she was trying to swim.”

An exhaustive search for the girl commenced soon after the emergency call came in about 1 p.m. Boats scoured the lower river, police searched the banks on foot and helicopters from the U.S. Border Patrol and the Erie County Sheriff’s Office could be seen and heard in the sky most of the afternoon.

Other agencies which lent personnel and services in the search include the Falls Fire Department, U.S. Coast Guard, the Whirlpool Jet Boats company out of Lewiston and the Niagara County Sheriff’s Department.

Several hours after the initial call, emergency personnel gathered at the Whirlpool park pavilion with the children in the group and witnesses. Crisis counselors from Niagara County spoke with the children while police collected statements.

“(The children) seem to be doing OK,” Franz said.

The rock the girl sat on was at a 45-degree angle to the water and appeared mossy, Moriarity said.

Directly after the incident, the children appeared distraught but did not yet grasp how serious the situation was, according to Valerie, the Kenmore hiker.

“I don’t think they knew how powerful the river is,” she said. “They thought she was hanging on a log a few feet down.”

Valerie and James haven’t hiked the trail in about four years but they know how treacherous the lower Niagara River can be.

“My husband was just saying on the trail all the way down just how strong the current and undertow is” Valerie said. “It’s going in all different directions.”