Rescuers pull another body from the Kern River

Reporting from Lake Isabella, Calif. —  Authorities pulled another body from the Kern River on Saturday night, the seventh apparent drowning during a treacherous year for the so-called Killer Kern.

The Kern County coroner had not identified the body as of 8 p.m., but sheriff’s search-and-rescue Sgt. Steve Williams said the victim was “obviously dead for a while.”

Yanira Zelaya of Palmdale said her son Jieson Aviles, 20, had found the body while he was fishing near the Keysville South campground, where his family was gathered for the holiday weekend. He returned to camp, and Zelaya called 911.

Zelaya glanced over at her son, who sat bent over, holding his head.

“He is in shock,” she said. Her son was adventurous and at times impulsive — he jumped off rocks into the river, she said. Now, she thinks, he may stay on the banks.

A rescue team had been out searching for an Orange County rapper who disappeared in the river last week and a man who went missing while tubing on the river Saturday afternoon.

Melting snow has engorged the 165-mile-long river with fast, frigid currents, and officials have warned vacationers to be wary. Many have not heeded the warnings.

The sheriff’s office got word of the body about 6:30 p.m. As rescuers surrounded the body, dozens of campers watched curiously from tents and fold-up chairs.

“This is our first time here, and our last,” said Lupe Quinones, 60, of Laguna, nodding toward the deputies as she walked by.

Not far from the site, a 22-year-old Los Angeles man had been swimming with his cousins Saturday morning when he was swept away and drowned. His body was recovered a short while later.

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@meg_bernhard

Times staff writer Christopher Goffard contributed to this report.

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