Siblings 4 and 2 perish, killed in the fast-flowing San Bernardino River

A 4-year-old girl and her 2-year-old brother died Tuesday after they were swept downstream in a fast-flowing stream in the San Bernardino National Forest near Forest Falls, authorities said.

The children were playing at the Therman Flats picnic area near the banks of Mill Creek on Tuesday afternoon when their mother noticed the 4-year-old was missing while the mother was caring for her 2-year-old son, according to a news release from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

The mother looked for her daughter but couldn’t find her, officials said. When she returned to where she had left her son, he too was missing.

Officials said the woman was desperate for help finding her children, but others in the park were also unable to find her, the release said.

Local search and rescue teams soon became involved, including the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Air Rescue and the US Forest Service Rescue Crew. About 40 minutes later, both children were found downstream near the creek bank.

They were transported to local hospitals but were soon pronounced dead, officials said. The names of the mother and her children have not been released.