Deputies need help locating people who were at Kings River the day two children drowned

Fresno County Sheriff’s investigators to continue to search for witnesses who may have information about the drowning of two children in the Kings River Sunday.

Eight year-old Victoria Barajas was found dead Sunday afternoon after she and a her brother Santiago, 4, were swept away by fast, cold water from Pine Flat Dam.

The lifeless body of the Santiago was found the next day.

Sheriff’s spokesman Tony Botti said deputies know there were several small groups along the shoreline where the children entered the river.

Deputies want to speak with anyone who was there to “gain a better understanding of anything you may have witnessed,” Botti added.

Anyone who was in area around that time — about a mile south of the Pine Flat Dam between 1 and 2 p.m. on Sunday — is asked to contact detective Jose Leon at 559-600-8205.

The children were with their mother and an adult friend at the time of the tragedy.

Deputies said the group was trying to reach a rock in the river when the powerful water current pulled the children away.