Caution needed after drownings in local rivers

The American River is calm and glassy just before the flow slices into ripples and sweeps into the San Juan Rapids, a turbulent stream of foam and tumbling water.

For the unsuspecting or unprepared, the river can quickly turn into a raging menace.

Last month, Makara Sok, a 23-year-old Southern California man, slipped from the river's edge and plunged into a swirl of current, his body disappearing into the river's depths – possibly submerged in a deep, underwater pit until finally being expelled two weeks later.

At least seven other people have died in Sacramento County's rivers since the Memorial Day weekend last year, most falling prey to the currents of the American River.

Last week, an 11-year-old girl and a 20-year-old man – neither wearing a life vest – died in separate drowning incidents along the American.

The latest deaths have prompted fire officials, who also serve on the front lines in river rescues, to ask elected officials to draft laws requiring river-goers to wear life jackets.

Sacramento City Councilman Kevin McCarty broached the issue at Tuesday's council meeting.

"This prevention effort, the slogans – 'kids don't float' – just aren't cutting," McCarty said later.

He has asked the City Attorney's Office to explore a law that would fine parents for not strapping life jackets on kids frolicking in the river.

"We're saddened by the needless death, needless tragedy," McCarty said. "Every year we see it, and it's really tragic."

The weather over the holiday weekend is expected to be mild, with high temperatures in the low to mid-70s – far from the scorching heat that often draws droves to the rivers.

Still, fire crews, county parks officials and other authorities will be out patrolling for trouble – as well as offering life vests – but they're urging river-goers to mind their own safety and to keep watch over children.

"As far as we're concerned, one drowning is too much. We're frustrated with the deaths, because each one could have been preventable," said Capt. Christian Pebbles of the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District.

Eight deaths in a year may seem relatively low. But the number could easily have been higher, according to water-safety officials who count scores of near-misses every year.

No agency keeps a tally of annual drowning figures for the region. By The Bee's count, using death records obtained from the county Coroner's Office, at least 12 people drowned in the American and Sacramento rivers in 2006. In 2005, there were seven. There were eight river drownings each year in 2003 and 2004.

The river's victims are young and old. Often, they slip below the water's surface quietly and unnoticed. There is often no splashing.

Joseph Ford, 31, of San Francisco disappeared last September while drifting on an inner tube without a life jacket as friends floated in rafts.

Somewhere near the San Juan Rapids, he disappeared – his inner tube empty and his hat bobbing in the current. His friends glided on, sure that he'd turn up. They described him as a strong swimmer.

A day later, search crews found his body tumbling in 20 feet of water near Rossmoor Bar, about a mile downriver from where he was last seen alive.

"It's tragic, and it's unfortunate that we pull so many people out of the rivers just because they haven't taken the necessary safety precautions," said Ed Smith, Sacramento County's assistant coroner.

"Eight people seems like a small number, but many hundreds of people are impacted. Many people end up grieving for a loved one," Smith said.

In 2005, there were 3,582 accidental drownings in the United States, nearly 10 deaths per day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A quarter of the deaths were children younger than 14, many in backyard pools.

Most adults and older children who drown die in the ocean or in lakes or rivers, according to the CDC.

Safety experts say that in most river drownings – here and elsewhere – life jackets are nowhere to be seen when bodies are recovered.

About the writer:

• Call The Bee's Bobby Caina Calvan, (916) 321-1067. Bee researcher Shiela A. Kern contributed to this report.