UPDATE 2/11/26 @ 2/11/26
MEIGS COUNTY, Ohio (WSAZ) – Pomeroy Police Chief Chris Pitchford said the vehicle that went into the Ohio River on Tuesday night was removed from the water Wednesday evening.
However, he said the female driver was no longer inside.
The scene has been cleared for the night, and the chief says public safety officials in Meigs County are working to get resources to search the river for the victim.
That search is expected to start Thursday.
The chief said the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office’s dive team recovered the vehicle shortly after 6 pm by hooking it to a tow cable.
ORIGINAL STORY
MEIGS COUNTY, Ohio (WSAZ) – WSAZ is learning more details about a dramatic rescue of a child and the effort the recover a body and vehicle after a car went into the Ohio River in Pomeroy Tuesday night.
Dakota Rice, a volunteer with the Pomeroy Fire Department, says he and his chief were the first on scene after it was reported around 8:40 pm.
One dead, child rescued after car goes into Ohio River
Rice says the car was partially through the ice with its rear tilted up at first, and he went across the ice and grabbed a 4-year-old girl through the rear windshield, where the glass had been broken out. He says he thinks the woman who’d been driving may have been holding her out toward him.
Rice says as he was holding the child, the ice he was standing on began to break. He says he threw the child toward the bank as hard as he could before he fell through the ice. His entire body was submerged.
Another firefighter on scene picked up the child and took her to safety from there, and she was taken to a hospital.
Rice says he was able to get out safely, but after what felt like less than a minute, the vehicle completely submerged through the ice and into the river.
The assistant Pomeroy fire chief says the vehicle remains in the river Wednesday morning, and they’re waiting for a dive team from Columbus to arrive to determine whether the vehicle and body can be safely brought out.
There’s no word yet on what caused the initial accident that led to the vehicle going off the road.
Rice says he heard the child is expected to be okay.
The name of the victim has not been released.
Rice says he went to the hospital Tuesday night as well.
The assistant chief says the section of the river where the car went through is 25-30 feet deep.
Previous coverage can be found here.
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