UPDATE: Search Suspended for 12-Year-Old Boy in Kankakee River

posted May 30, 2016, 9 p.m.; updated

WILMINGTON, IL — Emergency crews went into the Kankakee River near Wilmington to searching for a missing 12-year-old boy Sunday evening, but the boy was not found and at nightfall the search was called off.

His sister, 13, was pulled from the river and was unresponsive, according to Police Chief Phil Arnold. Witnesses said she had been under water for at least 20 minutes and was blue in the face. She was taken to St. Joseph Hospital in Joliet and was in serious condition during transport, said Deputy Fire Chief Todd Friddle.

Friddle said as of 9:30 p.m. he did not know if the girl had survived.

The children reportedly were walking near the river beneath the dam. The girl was pulled out of the water by bystanders.

Two people went into the river after the children to try to save them and rescuers brought both of the bystanders out of the river using pull ropes, Arnold said. One, a male, was taken to Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox, according to authorities.

The search involving Wilmington Fire District, Wilmington Police and a dive team began at 6 p.m. near Island Park just south of the spillway. The search was called off for the missing boy at 9:30 p.m., according to the police chief. The search will resume at dawn as a recovery effort.

The depth of the river at that point can be anywhere from a few feet to 6 feet in depth. The undercurrents near a spillway can be very powerful.

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