Five people drowned after being swept away in a fierce current during a storm Sunday evening in the Santa Anita area of Tlajomulco.
Several families, described by Zapopan officials as “seeking adventure,” had driven their ATVs into the bed of a creek located on the edge of the Primavera Forest, near the Bosque Real subdivision.
When the storm struck, water began to gush down the Primavera hills toward the residential zone, filling the creek, known as ‘La Culebra,” almost instantly.
Three ATVs were carried along by the current and while most of the passengers managed to extract themselves and scramble to safety, several were swept along by the strong current. The lifeless bodies of two women, aged 25 and 30, were discovered later that evening four kilometers downstream near the Camino Real a Colima highway. A video posted on social media showed a young girl and her father, who were also swept along by the current, being rescued by Civil Protection personnel.
In the aftermath of the incident, three other excursionists were reported as missing. The search was extended to the Guayabo Dam, six kilometers away. The following day, rescue workers found the bodies of two men and a woman, all of whom had been pulled along by the current.
Tlajomulco Mayor Salvador Zamora issued a plea to daytrippers to refrain from carrying out activities in or around river or creek beds at this time of year.