The Mount Si High School student and volleyball player, Tess Sollitto, was at the river with a group of friends yesterday afternoon. Eyewitnesses said she tried to swim across the river at an area known as Blue Hole when she was sucked under water.

Rescuers pulled her out of the water in the exact spot where she originally disappeared. Sollitto was not wearing a life jacket.

“She was under for about a half-hour,” said one eyewitness.

When she was pulled from the water, she was immediately transported to Harborview Medical Center.

There have been three drowning deaths in three days in Western Washington waters, and officials are once again urging people to wear life jackets and to remember that rivers are especially swift this time of year.

Many of the girl's friends who witnessed the accident said they were unaware of just how powerful the river currents could be.

“I’m never coming back here to swim. Never,” said Nicole Keenan.