Location: Kaweah River, 1/4 mile west of Road 212, Woodlake

Incident Date: 6/26/18

Incident Time: 1930 hours

Victim: adult male and 7-month old baby

City: Woodlake

Posted by: Media Relations

**********************UPDATE********************************

There were 6 people on the raft. 3 adults and 3 children.
They were not wearing life vests, but were all in individual floating devices.
Alcohol was not involved.
The baby is in pediatric intensive care and in critical condition.
The 37 year old is in critical but stable condition.
 

*******************Original Press Release*********************

Just after 7:30 p.m. on June 26, 2018, TCSO Deputies responded to the Kaweah River, 1/4 mile west of Road 212 in Woodlake. 

A Visalia family was rafting on the river when a 7-month-old male child fell from the raft and began to go downstream. Family members lost sight of the child and called 9-1-1.

Before deputies arrived, a friend of the family found the baby in the water. The baby was given to family members and CPR was started. 

Officers from Woodlake Police Dept arrived on scene and assisted with the CPR efforts. The family friend who found the baby was also overcome by the river and had to be pulled from the water.

Both the baby and the 37 year old male family friend have been taken to the hospital and are in critical condition.

A 7-year-old boy helped the baby’s mother perform cpr on the baby, by giving breaths. We do not know his relation to the baby. The baby is currently being treated at Valley Children’s Hospital.

The baby is a boy. And the family friend is a 37-year-old man. 

TCSO Detectives are at the scene and are conducting an investigation into this incident.  

We will keep you updated as more information becomes available.

Water safety tips:

- Please do not approach the river’s edge or enter white water under any circumstances. The current conditions in many of our waterways are not survivable despite safety equipment, training or experience in white water. 

- Inner tubes or other small flotation devices are inadequate and extremely dangerous as they are easily overturned in the swift currents. 

- The Sheriff’s Office continues to urge the public to use caution when near open waters. 

- Play it safe and don’t drink and drive on the roadways or on the waterways.

- Wear life jackets. On a vessel, children under 13 must wear a life jacket at all times.

- Have a personal floatation device on board for each person present.

- Learn to swim and teach your children to swim. Their lives depend on it.

- Children should always be supervised. Do not let them out of your sight.

- Have a fire extinguisher on board your boat.

- Boats and personal watercraft travel in a counter-clockwise pattern on lakes.

- For swimmers, wear life jackets, stay near the shore and don’t swim near boat ramps or docks.

The last thing anyone wants to face is a drowning or a collision on the waterways. Be mindful of your own and your family’s safety.