Five-year-old boy drowns in Columbia River on fishing trip

A five-year-old boy, reported as Sakai Dillard of Kirkland, drowned last Saturday after falling in the Columbia River near Rainier, Ore.

A five-year-old boy, reported as Sakai Dillard of Kirkland, drowned last Saturday after falling in the Columbia River near Rainier, Ore.

Authorities said Dillard was on a fishing trip with his father at the time. The U.S. Coast Guard was contacted about 2 p.m. to help look for the boy. A diver with the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office recovered Dillard’s body at around 5 p.m. at nearby Dibblee Point Beach.

It was reported that the boy, who did not know how to swim, was not wearing a life jacket when he ran out onto some wood pilings and fell in.