Search is called off for boy missing in Santa Ana River

Rescue workers spent more than two hours this afternoon searching for a teenage boy last spotted in the turbulent, rain-swollen Santa Ana River, but were unable to find him.

Capt. Edward Engler, a spokesman for the Orange Fire Department, said two boys were seen in the river near Glassell Street in north Orange about 2:20 p.m. Rescue workers pulled out one of the boys, who suffered minor injuries, but the boy said a friend was still in the river.

A host of police and fire agencies – using boats, helicopters and thermal-imaging cameras – scoured the river all the way to the Pacific Ocean, a distance of nearly 20 miles, but found no sign of the boy and called off the search, Engler said.

Engler said it was possible the boy had made it to shore safely on his own. “We like to think that was the case,” he said. “It’s just that there’s a lot of water in the river, and it’s moving very quickly. It’s treacherous.”

--Christopher Goffard in Orange County

Comments

[Adee]

Why do people still think its "cool" to hang out/play in the flood control channels? What a bunch of morons.....

[h e whitney]

Does the fire department have any real work to do ?

On my day off, I surfed thru my cable news channels and found a news story(on Fox)about several dozen firemen, and cops, attempting to rescue a dog apparently caught in a runoff channel, by swiftly moving water. The dog was on solid ground. The highly paid public servants were on the job, doing animal rescue ?

I wonder what the cost to the tax payers will be when the animal rescue is completed?

And the State of California is asking the federal government, me, to bail it out of a budget deficit?

Watching these shenanigans affirms my first impression when I read about Californias request for money.
They don't need it ! !

I hope photos of the "heros" appear in the Times, front page above the fold, tomorrow. And I hope the Times will comment n he useless waste of effort.