Richmond girl drowns while fishing with grandfather at Lake Anna

Published: May. 27, 2013 at 7:10 PM EDT|Updated: Jun. 7, 2013 at 4:28 AM EDT
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LOUISA, VA (WWBT) - A six-year-old Richmond girl drowned when she fell into Lake Anna during a Memorial Day fishing trip with her grandparents.

Dive crews from Spotsylvania and Louisa recovered the child's body around 5 p.m. Monday, after a two-and-a-half hour search. The child was fishing with her grandparents and 18-year-old sister on dike 3 around 2:30 p.m. The family was near the cold side of the lake when she fell in, according to authorities.

The kindergartner slipped on steep rocks and was immediately sucked into the current, Major Donald Lowe of the Louisa County Sheriff's Office. The strong current underneath the dike is created by the differences water temperature on opposite sides of the bridge. The water is warm on one side from the nearby power plant and cold on the other side. When the water temperatures clash, a very strong funnel undertow is created.

"This is probably the most dangerous part of the lake. This is the part where the separation is from the warm side to the cold side of the lake and right under this dike is a very, very powerful current. It's so powerful you can't swim in it. If you fall into the water, it basically works like a super undertow and it will spin you around like in a washing machine and suck you straight to the bottom," said Lowe. "It's a very, very powerful current. It's so powerful, you can't swim in it."

The Richmond girl's mother, who is on a cruise in the Bahamas has learned the devastating news of her daughter's death. Lowe says they worked with the cruise line to contact that child's mother. The cruise line is working to get the girl's mother home.

Lowe says a bystander jumped in the lake and tried to rescue the girl. He made contact, but couldn't manage to pull her out by himself.

"She fought the rescuer, which is typical of a drowning victim. The current started to pull both of them under. He lost hold of her," continued Lowe.

The child's grandfather jumped in as well, but the girl was already lost in the water without a life jacket. Dive teams found her body 32 feet under, face down.

"We were able to pull her from the water to a private part of the shore, and let the grandparents have some private time with her and said a little prayer with them," said Lowe of the devastating ordeal.

The Louisa County Sheriff's Office hasn't yet released the name of the girl or her family. Grief counselors have also been called in at the child's school, J.E.B. Stuart Elementary, and her 18-year-old sister's school, John Marshall High School.

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