Body of boy, 6, found after crash into Delaware canal that killed three others

ST. GEORGES, Del. - Authorities have recovered the body of a 6-year-old boy who was one of four family members who died after their car plunged into a canal in northern Delaware.

Crews had been searching for the body of Ethan Lindsey since Sunday morning, when a wrong-way turn on the way to a youth football game sent a car full of five young people plunging into the canal.

Brandi Lindsey said authorities informed her husband, Willis Sr., that the body recovered Thursday morning was that of their son Ethan. Two brothers, 18-year-old Willis Lindsey Jr. and 16-year-old Kyree, also died in Sunday's accident, along with their 12-year-old cousin Eric Lindsey.

Pictured: 18-year-old Willis Lindsey, 16-year-old Kyree Lindsey, Eric Lindsey and Ethan Lindsay.

Willis Lindsey said he and his family were traveling from Wilmington to Easton, Maryland, in two separate cars when both vehicles took a wrong exit and wound up on a gravel road along the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.

Lindsey was driving with his wife, 10-year-old son Donald, and 2-year-old daughter to Donald’s football game. In the other car, his eldest son, Willis Jr., was driving a 16-year-old female friend, his brothers Kyree, and Ethan, and their cousin, Eric Lindsey.

Lindsey said after turning around, he and his wife found the girl sitting on rocks along the southern bank of the canal, a heavily traveled waterway that connects the Delaware River with the Chesapeake Bay.

There was no sign of the others or their vehicle.

Authorities retrieved the bodies of Willis Jr., Kyree and Eric on Sunday. Using sonar, they continued searching Monday for Ethan’s body.

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Delaware State Police said Willis Jr. pulled the girl to safety before dying in a bid to rescue the three other boys.

Lindsey said his eldest son knew how to swim but may have struggled in the current.

Lindsey said it took about 10 or 15 minutes before a fire truck and a state trooper arrived at the scene. The state trooper immediately stripped down to his underwear and jumped in the water in an effort to locate the submerged vehicle, he said.

“When he came back out, he said it was deeper than he anticipated it being,” Lindsey recalled.

Authorities later located the car in about 20 feet (6 meters) of water.

A GoFundMe has since been set up on behalf of the family.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.