Accident causes two drownings in Tamaroa
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[A pickup truck apparently jumped into gear and rolled into a lake, carrying two youngsters to their deaths Tuesday night.
A Tamaroa mother stepped out of the truck to check the mail when it slipped into gear, drowning Shayace Radake, age 3, and Savannah Morgan-Radake, age 22 months.
The Perry County Sheriffs Department, Tamaroa firemen and the Pinckneyville Volunteer Ambulance Service responded to an 8 p.m. emergency call at the Bridgett Radake home, 9852 East Tamaroa Road, near the Jefferson County line.
Perry County Sheriff Keith Kellerman said the children were taken by ambulance to Marshall Browning Hospital, then pronounced dead by Coroner David Searby at 9:30 p.m.
The investigation continues, Kellerman said. At press time, the incident is being treated as an accident.
Radake, 36, lives on one side of the three-acre lake. Her parents, Richard S. and Gerry Radake , live on the other side of the lake. Gerry Radake said Bridgett Radake left one of the children, Savannah, at her parents' home to play. She went to Pestkas Home Grocery in Tamaroa
with son Shayace to buy groceries. Shayace had picked up a couple of things to take home to his sister. Shayace fell asleep in the seat of the Ford pickup truck as Bridgett Radake picked up Savannah from her parents' house. Bridgett pulled back out onto East Tamaroa Road and drove the short distance to her house.
According to Gerry Radake, Bridgett Radake stepped out of the truck to check the mail alongside the drive leading up to the house. Just as she got out, the truck lunged forward and the drivers' side door slammed closed. Gerry Radake said Bridgett was frantic and grabbed the truck's tailgate, following it into the water.
Bridgett Radake's oldest son, 19, came out of the house and jumped into the lake. He couldn't break into the truck as it floated out across the water and began to sink. He got cold, stood on the cab for a time, then abandoned the rescue effort.
About that time, emergency personnel began arriving and Perry County Deputy Josh Harsy went into the water in a second attempt to rescue the children. But the truck had floated farther from the shoreline and deeper into the lake.
Kellerman said there were no shallow areas -- the lake gets deep quickly.
Before divers and a wrecker could arrive, a cable or chain was hooked to the truck and the truck was pulled out with a farm tractor. When the truck was halfway out of the water, rescuers kicked in the back glass, but the children had already died.
Kellerman said the truck was taken to a secure sheriffs department impound site as the investigation continues.