SPRAGUE, Conn. — A woman and her 5-year-old daughter died after they were swept down a river in eastern Connecticut, authorities said.
According to a news release from the Connecticut State Police, Kelly Dora, 39, of Norwich, was pronounced dead at Backus Hospital in Norwich on Tuesday. Aralye McKeever, 5, was transferred to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford, where she died on Wednesday.
Troopers received a call at about 5:23 p.m. EDT on Tuesday about a woman and her child lost in the Shetucket River in the Park Drive area of Sprague.
Baltic Fire Chief Bob Tardif told WFSB-TV that the victims were in an area called River Pond and were swept downstream by high waters.
“Seeing them floating in the river around the Norwich/Sprague line, by the time we retrieved them and got them to shore it was approximately 5:40, so about a 25-minute time frame in between,” Tardif told the television station.
Neither victim was wearing a life jacket, WFSB reported.
In its news release, the Connecticut State Police said no foul play was suspected. The incidents will be investigated as “untimely deaths.”
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will conduct an investigation to determine the cause and manner of death, officials said.
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