FULTON COUNTY - Two Fulton County children are dead after an SUV they were riding was submerged in flood waters just west of Kosciusko County.
Megihann Leininger, 29, was driving her 2006 Chevy Tahoe with her five children inside when the vehicle hit deep water at CR 600N between CRs 825E and 900E in Fulton County.Leininger was able to pull three of her children out of the vehicle, Mariah Leininger, 4; Michael McDaniel, 1; and Canari Trigg, 3 months.
The four of them got out and stood on top of the Tahoe.
Leininger was unable to get two daughters out of the vehicle, Shay Leininger, 5, and Ashley Pruitt, 2.
When Mentone Fire Chief Mike Yazel and his crews arrived at the scene, they found Leininger and her three children on top of the vehicle and about 120 yards out.
Several rescue workers put on rescue swimsuits and made their way to the vehicle. A front end loader from Craig Welding arrived, and Leininger and her three kids were put into the front end loader.
Rescue workers from Burket arrived, and two more workers got into swimsuits and made their way to the vehicle.
Due to the deep, muddy water, rescue workers couldn't remove the two trapped children immediately.
The front end loader was used to pull the vehicle into more shallow water, and Shay Leininger and Pruitt were removed from the vehicle.
Shay Leininger was transported to Lutheran Hospital where she was pronounced dead, while Pruitt was pronounced dead at Kosciusko Community Hospital.
Both Shay Leininger and Pruitt were taken to KCH originally.
Yazel called for Samaritan Helicopter, but due to the weather and flooding conditions an emergency helicopter was unable to transport the two girls from the scene.
Police and rescuers workers were dispatched to the scene at 9:04 a.m. Tuesday.
The call to dispatch originally placed the accident at CRs 1300W and 600S just inside Kosciusko County.
Mentone first responders and fire department officials were first at the scene.
A partial obituary for both Leininger and Pruitt appear on page 3A of today's edition.
