Local News
Sandro Lala, 25, and Yazmin Yupangui, 11, died in accidental drownings, police said.
Two people — an 11-year-old girl and her older brother — drowned in Vermont’s Lamoille River last week, authorities announced.
Sandro Lala, 25, jumped into the Lamoille River at Arrowhead Mountain Lake in Georgia, Vermont last Wednesday around 7:50 p.m. in an attempt to save his younger sister, Yazmin Yupangui, after she fell into the water, Vermont State Police said in a press release.
The two siblings, both residents of Cambridge, Vermont, disappeared from view after entering the water and were subsequently reported missing, police said.
Initial reports indicated Yupangui fell into the water while a group of relatives were fishing from the riverbank.
Emergency crews searched for the siblings on Wednesday and Thursday. Police noted conditions on the water remained difficult Thursday morning after overnight thunderstorms caused water levels to rise and strengthened currents.
Yupangui’s body was recovered around 5:40 p.m. Thursday, police said.
The search for Lala continued into Friday, with his body eventually being discovered by a kayaker around 6:40 a.m. the following day, according to police.
Following the recovery, officials said both siblings were transported to the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington for autopsies, where their deaths were determined to be the result of accidental drowning.
A GoFundMe organized by Hessi Correa, a “very close family friend,” had raised nearly $70,000 as of Monday night. Donations will go towards funeral expenses and the cost of transporting the siblings to Ecuador for burial, where many of their extended family lives, according to the fundraiser description.
Yupangui, a recent sixth-grade graduate of Cambridge Elementary School, is remembered as “playful, funny, determined, and full of life,” while Lala was described as a selfless, calm, and family-oriented person who enjoyed playing soccer and volleyball, per the campaign.
“This family has already endured more hardship than anyone should ever experience,” the campaign description reads, adding that the family had to be rescued when their home was flooded with four feet of water during the July 2023 Vermont floods.
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