Sioux Falls Emergency Official Urges Water Safety

SIOUX FALLS - Emergency officials in Sioux Falls are trying to raise awareness of water safety after two people drowned in the Big Sioux River last week.

Division Fire Chief Jeff Helm tells KELO-TV that people who see someone go under water should resist the urge to go in after them. He says they should instead throw a flotation device or something the person in trouble can grab onto.

Helm says if that isn't an option, mark where the person went under and call for help.

Twenty-eight-year-old Lyle Eagletail and 16-year-old Madison Wallace died Thursday trying to rescue her 6-year-old brother, Garrett, who fell in the river but later emerged uninjured.

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