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VIRGIN, Washington County — A 2-year-old boy on life support since being pulled from the Virgin River last week has died.
The boy, whose name has not been released, died at Primary Children's Medical Center about 7 p.m. Sunday, according to the Washington County Sheriff's Office.
The boy was camping with his mother and her boyfriend on June 22 when he somehow fell into the river near Sheep Bridge about 8:30 p.m. The boy was believed to be in the water about five minutes before he was found.
The boy became the eighth drowning victim in Utah in the past two months, according to statistics kept by the Deseret News.
- June 11 — Uri Gois, 15, drowned in the Virgin River.
- June 8 — Jayson Robert Corporon, 8, drowned in the American Fork River.
- June 7 — Donaven Lopez, 2, died a day after he climbed through a hole in a Riverton fence and fell into a canal.
- June 4 — Nathan Daniel Ellison, 13, died several days after being pulled from the Provo River. He had been floating down the river on an inflatable mattress.
- June 1 — Shirley Palmer, 73, died while kayaking on the Green River
- May 29 — Vincent Larsen, 2, of Woodland Hills, died after he fell into Starvation Creek near his home.
- April 16 — Richard J. Valenzuela, 4, of Santaquin, died after being found floating face down in Utah Lake. He had been fishing with his family the day before.
In addition, there have been several near drownings in just the past week in Utah.
- June 25 — Carson Jones, 9, nearly drowned in Grantsville Reservoir.
- June 22 — A 3-year-old boy nearly drowned while swimming in the pool at the Iron Blossom Lodge at Snowbird.
- June 20 — Cody Grundstrom, 6, nearly drowned while swimming Capitol Reef National Park.
Email: preavy@ksl.com
