Boy, 11, Dies After Fall Into Mountain Creek
An 11-year-old Yorba Linda boy fell to his death Thursday while hiking with his sixth-grade class in the San Bernardino Mountains, officials said.
Kevin Kelley, a student at Woodsboro Elementary in Anaheim, slipped while crossing a creek near Green Valley Lake, authorities said. The current swept him away, and he fell 300 feet down a rocky waterfall, said Doug Crawford, spokesman for the San Bernardino County Fire Department.
Two camp counselors who tried to help him suffered minor injuries, Crawford said.
The sixth-grade classes from Woodsboro and Placentia’s Wagner Elementary were on an annual weeklong trip to the Arrowhead Ranch Outdoor Science School in nearby Running Springs, said Karen Bass, spokeswoman for Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District.
The children had been scheduled to return today, she said. “We’ve sent buses up there to bring all the kids home tonight,” Bass said late Thursday. “Counselors went up in the buses in case the kids need to talk about what happened.”
Crawford said a group of 80 children and adults was hiking when the accident happened. Snow covered the ground, and temperatures were in the low 30s at the spot, where icy water gushed in torrents down a crevice studded with boulders.
Because the terrain was too rugged for helicopter access, rescue crews had to hike down to the accident scene, Crawford said.
Times wire services contributed to this report.
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