7-Year-Old Girl with Autism Found Dead in Potomac River After Going Missing, Officials Say: 'Tragic'

"My thoughts and prayers go out to the child's family as well as the first responders who endured this event," the local sheriff said

The search for a missing girl with autism ended in tragedy this week when her body was found in the Potomac River in Maryland, authorities said.

On Monday, Sept. 2, the Allegany County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call at 1:41 p.m. local time of a missing 7-year-old who had disappeared from her home for roughly 10 minutes, according to a news release from the sheriff.

Authorities immediately began searching for the young girl (who has not been publicly identified), enlisting the help of other agencies including “the Maryland State Police and Trooper 5, Maryland Natural Resource Police and Cumberland City Police Department,” the release stated.

Related: Missing 6-Year-Old Boy with Autism Found Dead in Maryland Pond Following Massive Overnight Search

Allegany County deputies, assisted by the Cumberland City Police's K-9 unit, began tracking the girl’s whereabouts along the Potomac River’s north end before they “discovered an unconscious subject in the water.”

"After a search of the area, the child was located face down in the Potomac River by Maryland State Police Trooper 5 Aircraft," Allegany Sheriff Craig A. Robertson said in a statement.

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The girl was moved to a riverbank to receive medical attention, officials said.

As first responders performed CPR on the young girl, officials said in the news release that “several responders [had] to be transported to the hospital for excessive amounts of bee stings and other injuries” due to the steep terrain conditions in the area.

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Though troopers had "directed ground deputies to the location" to undertake "life-saving measures," Sheriff Robertson said in his statement, "Unfortunately, those measures were unable to save her life."

The girl was pronounced dead at the scene, police officials said. 

"The investigation into this tragic death is still ongoing," he said. "My thoughts and prayers go out to the child's family as well as the first responders who endured this event. It has saddened our community."

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