Two vehicles carrying women and children from a park were washed away by a flash flood barreling down a canyon near the Utah-Arizona border, leaving 12 people dead and one person missing, officials said Tuesday, the CNN reports.
It was not the only deadly incident attributable to the fast-moving water. In Zion National Park’s Keyhole Canyon, four people who were canyoneering were killed and three are missing, National Park Service officials said.
At least six children and three women died in the vehicles that were swept away in the border area, according to Utah officials in the city of Hildale and with Washington County Emergency Services.
Three people survived Monday’s flood, including a boy who was found walking around a creek, said Hildale Mayor Philip Barlow.
Two survived by escaping from their vehicle, he said. The youngest fatality was a child about age 4, said Hildale Assistant Fire Chief Kevin Barlow.
The two vehicles carried a total of 16 women and children after a visit to a park, the mayor said.