3-Year-Old Dies After Falling Into Frigid Mountain Stream

A 3-year-old Bothell girl was fatally injured Saturday when she fell into a frigid mountain stream in a remote area of eastern Snohomish County.

The little girl was unconscious when she arrived at Children’s Hospital in Seattle at 1:20 p.m., and died about two hours later, said hospital spokeswoman Susan Macek.

The cause of death was not immediately available.

The girl had been with her family at a U.S. Forest Service campground on Troublesome Creek, about 12 miles northeast of Index, said Index assistant fire chief Nick Meisch. The child’s mother apparently broke an ankle and her grandfather got a bruise on his forehead in a fall at the scene, Meisch added.

Meisch said authorities were summoned shortly before noon and began a search for the little girl.

She was found by a camper about 300 yards downstream, shortly above the point where Troublesome Creek empties into the north fork of the Skykomish River, Meisch said.

The girl’s identity was not immediately released.