Teen and child who drowned in Fresno pond identified. They were cousins, coroner says
A teenager and child who drowned in a northwest Fresno pond near Woodward Park have been identified.
The two were pulled from a pond north of the park and near the Fort Washington Beach campground along the San Joaquin River before 1 p.m. Saturday, Fresno fire officials said.
The Fresno County Coroner’s Office on Monday night said the victims were Angel Manuel Falcón Araiza, 18, and 9-year-old Gonzalo Araiva. They were cousins, the coroner said.
Family members set up a Gofundme page to afford the two funerals. Marina Ochoa, who identified herself as an aunt to Araiva, said Falcón Araiza had just come to the area from Mexico.
She said his body will be returned to Mexico for burial, according to the fundraising page.
“With a sadness in our soul, two little angels left us who still had a lot to live for,” she wrote in Spanish.
The campground is close to Lanes Road, west of Friant Road.
Fresno Fire Department crews and divers arrived to find the two without a pulse and not breathing, officials said. They were submerged for more than an hour.
Firefighters said both victims were trapped in the water, wrapped up in grass that grows 5 to 10 feet tall in the deepest part of the waterway. They had to be cut free.
They were taken to Saint Agnes Medical Center.
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Both died at the hospital, the coroner’s office said
Divers from American Ambulance, Fresno Fire Department and the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office searched the water while the sheriff’s helicopter searched from the air.
A chaplain was on the scene.
This story was originally published August 2, 2022 at 5:12 AM.
