Household Expresses Gratitude After Physique Believed to Be Lacking Woman Discovered; Seek for Boy Continues

WASHINGTON CROSSING, Pa. (AP) — The household of a 2-year-old woman swept away together with one other baby by a flash flood that engulfed their automobile on a Pennsylvania highway is expressing gratitude on the discovery of a physique believed to be hers.

The physique was discovered early Friday night within the Delaware River close to a Philadelphia wastewater therapy plant about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the place Matilda Sheils was carried away, authorities mentioned Friday evening. The Philadelphia health worker’s workplace plans an post-mortem. The search continues for Matilda’s 9-month-old brother, Conrad.

“We’re grateful that our little Mattie has been introduced residence to us. We’re nonetheless praying for the return of Conrad,” the household mentioned in an announcement posted Saturday by Higher Makefield Township police.

Members of the family additionally expressed “continued gratitude for the overwhelming outpouring of affection, help, and concern from the group and from individuals across the nation as rescue employees have labored tirelessly to search out Mattie and Conrad.”

“Thanks all, once more, in your compassion and your kindness. We’re humbled,” the assertion mentioned.

The household from Charleston, South Carolina, was visiting kin and pals within the space and have been on their strategy to a barbecue on the night of July 15 when their automobile was hit by a “wall of water,” in keeping with Higher Makefield Hearth Chief Tim Brewer. Their mom, 32-year-old Katie Seley, was additionally killed within the flood, authorities mentioned.

The youngsters’s father, Jim Sheils, grabbed the couple’s 4-year-old son, whereas Seley and a grandmother grabbed the opposite kids, Brewer mentioned. Sheils and the son made it to security, however Seley and the grandmother have been swept away. The grandmother survived.

4 different individuals drowned within the space, in keeping with the Bucks County Coroner’s workplace: Enzo Depiero, 78, and Linda Depiero, 74, of Newtown; Yuko Love, 64, of Newtown; and Susan Barnhart, 53, of Titusville, New Jersey.

The deaths and the seek for the youngsters have led to an outpouring of help, significantly in social media, within the suburb about 35 miles (60 kilometers) north of Philadelphia.

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