2 married couples from Honduras among 5 who drowned in a river in Ohio, authorities confirm

WLWT Digital Staff

Five people died in the Scioto River in Powell, Ohio, after attempting to rescue someone who was struggling to swim on Sunday.

On Tuesday, Honduran authorities confirmed to the Associated Press that four of the five adults were Honduran citizens — 33-year-old Jose Mario Pineda Dias and his 28-year-old wife, Marina Suyapa Regalado, and another married couple whose names have not yet been released. The fifth adult also has yet to be identified.

Flabia Zamora, director of consular affairs at the Honduran Foreign Ministry, told reporters Tuesday that they were working with U.S. authorities to bring their bodies home.

Dis and Regalado had set out with their two children for some leisurely fishing in an Ohio river. A second Honduran couple and an adult friend joined them.

The group had gathered along the Scioto River in the Columbus suburb of Powell on Sunday when one of them went into the river to go swimming. “And that’s when the tragedy started to occur,” Balzer said. The others who went into the river to help also began struggling.

The driver called 911, reporting the child said his family was in the river.

Multiple first responders arrived on scene and pulled two women from the water. Both women were taken to nearby hospitals where they were pronounced dead.

The search continued for three men still believed to be in the water.

Around 2 p.m. Monday, search and recovery efforts led to the discovery of the bodies of three missing men in the river.

Officials said two young children who were on scene were taken into care by Delaware County Job & Family Services.

The Delaware County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident.