Father of girl swept away in river vows to continue search
MOUNT HOOD NATIONAL FOREST – Five days after 6-year-old Vinesa Snegur fell into the Clackamas River and vanished downstream, her father says the search must continue.
The family set up a website to organize searches near Austin Hot Springs where the girl's father, Igor Snegur, watched the rushing water sweep his daughter away.
Snegur said he plans to continue the search until Vinesa is found. His main focus is on recruiting volunteers to help as he lobbies authorities to resume their search.
A few dozen volunteer searchers fanned out Thursday along the Clackamas River, looking for any signs of the girl. They searched an area 10 miles downstream from where Vinesa fell in Sunday afternoon while on a family outing to play in the snow.
Igor Snegur said he and his family remain hopeful that she will be found. Divers located her sweater and her jacket hood underwater this week while family members found Vinesa's jacket on the bank of the river. But the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office called off its role in the search on Tuesday, citing dangerously high river levels.
Snegur said he expects authorities to resume helping on Sunday when water levels are projected to drop. But he said he and his family cannot wait.
"Whether we find her today or tomorrow or how many days – doesn't matter. But we must find her, and we ask everybody to pray for our family because from all my life these couple of days, we are going through the most difficult times in my life and my family's. It cannot be described in words," he said.
He said his daughter was special and is hoping more people are willing to step up and help search for her, especially those with equipment for water diving.
Snegur said it's difficult remembering those moments when his daughter went into the water, but he does remember going in after her and seeing her wash away.
The family had to drive seven miles to the Ripplebrook Ranger Station to call for help because cell phones don't work in the area.
Austin Hot Springs is about 30 miles southeast of the town of Estacada.
Vinesa was a first-grader at Mill Park Elementary School in the David Douglas School District.
