Rescue effort turns to recovery in search for 6-year-old who fell into Pennsylvania creek

A search and rescue effort to locate a 6-year-old girl who was swept away in a creek in Chester, Pennsylvania, has transitioned into a recovery effort, officials said Sunday.

In a press conference, Chester Fire Commissioner John-Paul Shirley said officials will continue to search until dusk Sunday for the girl who slipped on mud and fell into Chester Creek on Saturday evening.

"We always had in the back of our minds, just based on the initial information, that it was going be a recovery after three hours," Shirley said. "But that being said, we didn't want to give out hope. Because we were looking for that miracle." 

Police have not named the girl, but her family has identified her as Lin’ajah Brooker, WPVI reported. Lin'ajah was playing with other children near the creek when she fell in.

"She went down a little too far with the other kids, and my 7-year-old daughter tried to hold her, and she was holding onto my daughter's coat and I guess the wind took her," Tyeesha Reynolds, Lin'ajah's aunt told WPVI.

Crews began searching on Saturday night

Crews began searching around 7 p.m. on Saturday but had to suspend the search efforts at around 10:30 p.m. The Coast Guard continued to search through the night. Local crews resumed the search on Sunday at around 8 a.m.

"We were always hopeful that we could find something, now there's just without a doubt, once we had the sunlight on our side, and we're able to do a much more thorough search, that it wasn't going to be a rescue, it was going to be a recovery," Shirley said during the press conference.

Shirley said the search had to be stopped because of the danger of keeping crews in the water.

"This is an extremely sad day for the City of Chester," Chester Mayor Stefan Roots said during the press conference. "This is a community that will wrap its arms around those are hurting or who are in need."