Yosemite family tragedy on Merced River YOSEMITE

A file photo of the Merced River in California's Yosemite National Park. A file photo of the Merced River in California's Yosemite National Park. Photo: Jim Kellett, AP Photo: Jim Kellett, AP Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Yosemite family tragedy on Merced River 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

A family trip to Yosemite National Park turned tragic when two brothers, ages 6 and 10, were swept away in the Merced River while cooling off during a hike, authorities said Thursday.

The family of 15 to 20 relatives from the Los Angeles area began the hike at the Happy Isles trailhead Wednesday and had gone about a mile when they stopped around 3 p.m. at the Vernal Fall Footbridge, said park officials.

The family - like many other hot, tired hikers - decided to cool off in the river, a practice that park officials discourage because of numerous accidents and drownings over the years.

The boys were wading in water 6 to 8 inches deep next to their parents and other relatives and friends when they somehow got caught in the current and were pulled down the boulder-strewn river, said park spokesman Scott Gediman.

The boys' mother also went into the river, perhaps in an attempt to save her sons. Park spokeswoman Kari Cobb said the mother had to be pulled out of the river and was hospitalized with a back injury.

"Did they slip and fall? Did they go out further into the river?" Gediman asked. "That's part of the investigation."

6-year-old missing

The 10-year-old was pulled from the river about 150 yards downstream, but cardiopulmonary resuscitation failed to revive him. The 6-year-old boy was not found, and search efforts are continuing, park officials said.

The two boys' names were not released because they are minors.

It is the third drowning this year on the Merced in Yosemite National Park, including one in June on the south fork in Wawona and another near the Arch Rock entrance station, in the western portion of the park.

This section of the Merced, which includes Vernal Fall and the Mist Trail, are notorious for tragedy. About 2,000 people a day climb to the footbridge and continue onto the treacherous rock steps on the trail, which is perpetually wet with mist from the waterfall.

The park averages between 12 and 15 fatalities a year, roughly divided in half by accidents and other deaths such as heart attacks. Last year, when the water was particularly high, 20 people were killed, including seven deaths that were water related.

While Yosemite Falls and Bridalveil Fall are dry as a bone at this point in the summer, Gediman said, the Merced River stays flowing all year.

With temperatures in the upper 90s recently, groups often wade down to the river near the Vernal Fall footbridge because it makes for a nice reward after a short hike from the trailhead.

Strong currents

But the river is about 50 feet wide at that point, and while it's not very deep, boulders along the river bottom can make for eddies, pools and chutes that hide strong currents under a calmer surface, Gediman said.

"It's deceiving," he added. "It doesn't look like it is flowing or that the river is as strong as it is, but the current can just take you and pull you in."

That's what happened in July 2011 when three Central Valley residents wading above Vernal Fall were swept over the edge 317 feet to their deaths as dozens of tourists watched in horror.

The victims, Ramina Badal, 21, a nursing student at the University of San Francisco, Ninos Yacoub, 27, of Turlock (Stanislaus County) and Hormiz David, 22, of Modesto had ignored warning signs and climbed over a metal guardrail.

Earlier that year, Kent Butler, 60, a professor from Austin, Texas, slipped at the bottom of the granite steps below Vernal Fall, landed on a rock and slid into the roiling Merced River, where he was swept away and drowned.