8-year-old girl dead, her 4-year-old brother missing after they were swept away in central California river

Sanger, Calif. — An eight-year-old girl died and her four-year-old brother was missing after they were swept away Sunday in a central California river swollen from rapidly melting mountain snows.

Deputies responded around 2 p.m. following a report of children missing in the Kings River near Pine Flat Dam, according to the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office.

The office said the children, their mother and an adult friend entered the water off the shoreline about a mile down from the dam. They were trying make their way out to a specific rock to climb on when the current carried the kids away.     

About an hour later, deputies found the body of the little girl, officials said. They didn’t immediately say how she died.

A search for the…