YUMA, Ariz. (AP) — Police say 18-month-old boys drowned in a southwestern Arizona canal after their stroller rolled into the flowing water when their mother stopped after being attacked by a bee.
Yuma police said 26-year-old Alexis Keslar jumped into the steep-sloped canal Friday but couldn’t rescue the boys because the deep water was moving too fast.
After a search that lasted more than an hour, the brothers were pulled from the water. They were flown by a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter to a Yuma hospital, where they were pronounced dead, a spokesperson said.
Police on Tuesday issued a statement detailing how the ended up in the canal and said the Yuma County medical examiner determined that the deaths were accidental drownings.
“We’re not seeing any criminal actions or activity,” police Lt. Don Willits said.
He said Keslar managed to get out of the canal, but she’d lost her cellphone in the water. She yelled for help, and a Yuma city public works employee who was nearby heard her and called 911, Willits said. The area along the canal is used by families for walks and by joggers.
It took authorities more than an hour, however, to find and retrieve the boys.
“When I found out who the little boys were, all I could feel was a knot in my stomach,” Marlene Gleim, a friend of the ‘ grandmother, told KYMA-TV.
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