Another Columbia Tragedy: Pasco Teen Drowns, Firefighters Shocked
From the Pasco police facebook page:
At about 8:28pm (Thursday) Pasco Officers, along with members of the Pasco Fire Department, responded to reports from a teen who said his 15 year old male friend had gone underwater and not resurfaced. The boys were swimming in the area of the pictured pump house, which is south east of Road 80 at the Columbia River. After a short search the fire fighters and officers found the boy in the water. While attempting to get to him two firefighters were shocked by electricity, one who was standing on shore by the pump house, and one who went into the water toward the boy. Neither firefighter was injured. A quick thinking fire captain broke into the pump house and shut off the breakers in the power supply to the pump. After the boy was under water for more than 20 minutes Pasco Fire Department personnel were able to reach him using their rescue boat and he was rushed off to Kadlec hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
Pasco Detectives were called out and are currently investigating the scene. It's too soon to say with any certainty what caused the boy to go under the water. It's also too soon to say what the cause of the electrical current first responders faced while attempting to rescue the boy was. We will remain at the scene throughout the night and into the morning so we can continue to investigate during daylight.
Please keep the family of this boy in your thoughts and prayers.