By AP/KWMU
Bourbon, Mo. – Two separate accidents claimed the lives of three people Sunday on the Meramec River.
Authorities said two men entered the river on a gravel bar around 4 p.m. near the Meramec Caverns campground.
One man went under the water, and the second man tried to help him. Both drowned.
The body of Sridhar Tekula, 27, was recovered at 9:45 Sunday night. Authorities recovered the body of Suresh Merumu, 30, late Monday afternoon.
About an hour later and 10 miles upstream, Margaret Murphy of Wildwood drowned when a canoe capsized. She was four years old.
The state water patrol says Margaret was one of five children riding in a canoe along with an adult when it struck a log jam near the Campbell Bridge and tipped over.
Adults were able to pull the other four children to safety. Margaret was wearing a life vest but was pinned underwater by the logs and the canoe.