WASHINGTON CROSSING, PENNSYLVANIA (AP) – The body of a young girl was recovered on Friday in the Delaware River and was believed to be a two-year-old who was one of two children swept away from their family’s vehicle by a flash flood last weekend, authorities said.
The body was found in the early evening near a Philadelphia wastewater treatment plant about 50 kilometres from where Matilda Sheils was carried away, authorities said in a nighttime news conference
By physical description, authorities believe the body to be Matilda’s. The Philadelphia coroner will conduct an autopsy.
The search continues for Matilda’s nine-month-old brother, Conrad.
The family from Charleston, South Carolina, was visiting relatives and friends when they got hit by a “wall of water”, according to Upper Makefield Fire Chief Tim Brewer.
Their mother, 32-year-old Katie Seley, was also killed in the flood, authorities said.
The children’s father, Jim Sheils, grabbed the couple’s four-year-old son, while Seley and a grandmother grabbed the other children, Brewer said. Sheils and their toddler son made it to safety, but Seley and the grandmother were swept away. The grandmother survived.
