2 children swept away in NJ river — and one boy’s final act may have saved his sister

🚨One 10-year-old boy was found dead after three children fell into the Passaic River

🚨Rescue crews searched overnight for a missing 10-year-old girl

🚨Heavy upstream rainfall may have contributed to the dangerous river conditions

PASSAIC — After searching for several hours, the body of a boy who was pulled into the turbulent water of the Passaic River was found late Wednesday night while the search continued for a second child.

Mayor Hector Lora said a 10-year-old boy and girl and an 11-year-old girl fell into the rough river inside Dundee Island Park around 6 p.m. The 11-year-old girl made it out while a search continued for her brother and the other girl.

Lora said the boy’s body was found near the boat launch near Pulaski Park late Wednesday night

The boy may have died a hero by directing his sister to the rocks along the river bank that allowed her to climb out.

"His family is hurting and suffering and grieving the loss. Our community is feeling the loss. Police and the firefighters and the prosecutor and the sheriff and the State Police and all the volunteers are feeling the loss," Lora said.I ask for your prayers for the families that are hurting because the days that are following are going to be very hard."

A search continued for the 10-year-old girl on land and along the riverbanks during the night, with divers expected to resume their search Thursday morning.

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Fourth New Jersey water death in two weeks

New Jersey 101.5 Chief Meteorologist Dan Zarrow said that recent heavy thunderstorms may have contributed to the rough waters of the Passaic River.

"The Passaic River at Passaic, specifically, was running about 2 feet above baseline water levels on Thursday — not quite in flood stage, but definitely deep," Zarrow noted. "And the flow rate at the USGS gauge downstream at Little Falls registered a flow of almost 2,000 cubic feet per second — a tenfold increase over the tranquil 200 cubic feet per second from before the heavy rain on Tuesday. Definitely rough water there.

The boy is the fourth person and third child to die in New Jersey water in the past two weeks.

On July 9 in the Barnegat Bay, Mya Bella Golabek, 9, and Sigmund "Siggy" Paul Golabek, 7, died after their 30-foot Tidewater Custom crashed into an Intercoastal Waterway channel marker, according to State Police.

In a crash on July 25, a 32-foot Boston Whaler carrying five people struck a channel marker in the bay. Michael T. Bereheiko, 26, of Green Brook, was killed.

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