Teen girls drown in Black River

A desperate search to locate two teenage girls who were swept away in a section of the Black River ended tragically yesterday when their bodies were recovered hours apart by local divers and the Jamaica Defence Force personnel.

The girls have been identified by the police's Corporate Communications Unit as 13-year-old Gabriella Madden, who attended Christiana High School in Manchester, and 15-year-old Felicia Litchman, a student of the Roger Clarke High School in St Elizabeth. Both were from Coker district, St Elizabeth.

Reports by the Siloah police are that shortly after 4 p.m. on Saturday, Felicia and Gabriella were among a group of family and friends at the river. Initial reports stated that one of the girls got into difficulties and the other went to assist her when both were swept away.

Rough water

However, some sources say that both girls were in the process of attempting to rescue another teen, when they fell into the water and got swept away by the rough water.

The police were summoned, and a search party was organised by community members, which ended prematurely on Saturday afternoon, due to poor lighting.

The search resumed at first light yesterday, and Gabriella's body was recovered about 8:15 a.m., while Felicia's body was found about 3 p.m.

"Boy is a very dangerous river, an it deep an dark, so wi haffi just a tek wi time an a see if wi could find the girls dem Saturday," one fisherman who gave his name as Mikey told THE STAR.

"All a di man dem haffi stop the search because a bad light, but as soon as daylight yesterday morning, wi hit back the river an wi nuh stop until wi locate the two little juvenile."

In the meanwhile, relatives of both teens broke down at the river bank where the bodies of the girls were recovered. They were too traumatised to speak to the media.