Heartbreak in Canby as 11-Year-Old Drowns

A family outing at Canby Community Park on Sunday afternoon ended in tears as an 11-year-old drowned in the river.

It happened just after 5:00. Callers to 9-1-1 said that the 11-year-old had been pulled from the water after having gone under. The boy was unresponsive, callers said.

Deputies from the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office and officers from the Canby Police Department quickly arrived on scene.

But it was too late. Efforts to revive the boy were unsuccessful and the boy was pronounced dead at the scene.

A spokesman for the Sheriff's Office says the boy - who did not know how to swim and was not wearing a life vest - was playing in the water with his family when he disappeared.

A few minutes later, a family member found him underwater nearby.

The sheriff's office says this incident is a tragic reminder to use "the most extreme caution around waterways and to use personal flotation devices while in the water.

"Lifejackets save lives."