buckwheat
Well-Known Member
die trying to save drowning girl at Fort Worth park
Thursday, June 17, 2004 Posted: 10:23 AM EDT (1423 GMT)
Two people are carried on stretchers up the steps of the Water Gardens in Fort Worth, Texas, Wednesday.
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- An 8-year-old girl drowned and three people, including her father and brother, died while trying to rescue her from a decorative pool where "No swimming" signs were posted.
The Rev. Gerald M. Dew, pastor of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago, said the man and children had gone to the Fort Worth Water Gardens to play because the pool at their nearby hotel was closed. The 5.4-acre water garden has pools with powerful motors to circulate water through fountains and waterfalls.
Dew identified those who drowned Wednesday as Myron Dukes, 35; his daughter Lauren, 8; his son Christopher, 13; and an unrelated 11-year-old girl, whose name was not released pending family notification.
Witness accounts varied on what happened. Apparently, Lauren Dukes jumped or slipped into the water and the 11-year-old girl fell in when she tried to reach in and help her. Lauren's father and brother then jumped in to try to save the girls.
One witness, Christian Tillis, 14, said he saw the girls slip into the water and tried to help.
"I dived in after them. I felt a little-bitty hand, but it slipped out," he said. "And then I had to get out because I couldn't breathe."
Dot Kent, a spokeswoman for the city of Fort Worth, said "no swimming" signs are posted in the park and near the pool. She said she understood that the little girls had on swimsuits when their bodies were recovered.
A pump at the bottom of the pool that pulls water to a waterfall apparently created a suction that made rescues difficult, Fire Department spokesman Lt. Kent Worley said.
"A young person would not have the strength or the knowledge of how to get away from it," he said.
Jesse Spann, one of the church's deacons, said there are no barriers around the area and that steps lead down to the swirling pool. "As a child, when you see a waterfall, you think you can go play and swim there," he said.
All four victims were in town for the five-day National Baptist Sunday School Convention. At the hotel, church members gathered in a conference room to hug, cry and pray. Gospel hymns played on a tape recorder.
Worley said the Water Gardens would remain closed until police finish investigating the drownings. A memorial ceremony was planned for Thursday at the park.
Designed by architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee, the gardens are free to enter and a common refuge from hot Texas days. Each minute, 19,000 gallons of water courses through the garden, according to the Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Center.
Worley said in the park's 30-year history, "we have never had an incident such as this."
Standing before his teary-eyed church members in the hotel conference room, Dew struggled to find the words that would console his flock following the tragedy.
"The word that God told me to tell them was that he's still in charge and he's still in control, and that we only see the beginning, but God sees the beginning and the end, so we have to just hope in him," Dew said.
Thursday, June 17, 2004 Posted: 10:23 AM EDT (1423 GMT)
Two people are carried on stretchers up the steps of the Water Gardens in Fort Worth, Texas, Wednesday.
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- An 8-year-old girl drowned and three people, including her father and brother, died while trying to rescue her from a decorative pool where "No swimming" signs were posted.
The Rev. Gerald M. Dew, pastor of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago, said the man and children had gone to the Fort Worth Water Gardens to play because the pool at their nearby hotel was closed. The 5.4-acre water garden has pools with powerful motors to circulate water through fountains and waterfalls.
Dew identified those who drowned Wednesday as Myron Dukes, 35; his daughter Lauren, 8; his son Christopher, 13; and an unrelated 11-year-old girl, whose name was not released pending family notification.
Witness accounts varied on what happened. Apparently, Lauren Dukes jumped or slipped into the water and the 11-year-old girl fell in when she tried to reach in and help her. Lauren's father and brother then jumped in to try to save the girls.
One witness, Christian Tillis, 14, said he saw the girls slip into the water and tried to help.
"I dived in after them. I felt a little-bitty hand, but it slipped out," he said. "And then I had to get out because I couldn't breathe."
Dot Kent, a spokeswoman for the city of Fort Worth, said "no swimming" signs are posted in the park and near the pool. She said she understood that the little girls had on swimsuits when their bodies were recovered.
A pump at the bottom of the pool that pulls water to a waterfall apparently created a suction that made rescues difficult, Fire Department spokesman Lt. Kent Worley said.
"A young person would not have the strength or the knowledge of how to get away from it," he said.
Jesse Spann, one of the church's deacons, said there are no barriers around the area and that steps lead down to the swirling pool. "As a child, when you see a waterfall, you think you can go play and swim there," he said.
All four victims were in town for the five-day National Baptist Sunday School Convention. At the hotel, church members gathered in a conference room to hug, cry and pray. Gospel hymns played on a tape recorder.
Worley said the Water Gardens would remain closed until police finish investigating the drownings. A memorial ceremony was planned for Thursday at the park.
Designed by architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee, the gardens are free to enter and a common refuge from hot Texas days. Each minute, 19,000 gallons of water courses through the garden, according to the Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Center.
Worley said in the park's 30-year history, "we have never had an incident such as this."
Standing before his teary-eyed church members in the hotel conference room, Dew struggled to find the words that would console his flock following the tragedy.
"The word that God told me to tell them was that he's still in charge and he's still in control, and that we only see the beginning, but God sees the beginning and the end, so we have to just hope in him," Dew said.
