Ten-year-old girl's body recovered from Passaic River after two-day search in New Jersey

Crews pulled the body of 10-year-old Milian Dulan from New Jersey's Passaic River after a two-day search involving more than two dozen marine units, one of two children who died after being swept away near a public boat ramp.

Dulan's body was recovered shortly before 7 p.m. on July 31, roughly 100 feet south of the Market Street Bridge in Wallington, New Jersey. A couple living near the bridge spotted something in the water from their apartment window, went outside to look, and called 911. Rescue boats reached the area within about 15 minutes of that call. Passaic Mayor Hector Lora said authorities had been preparing to suspend the search for the night when the tip came in.

The tragedy began two days earlier, on July 29, when three children entered the Passaic River near a boat ramp at Pulaski Park in Passaic, New Jersey. The current swept all three away. An 11-year-old girl managed to get out of the water on her own. The other two, Dulan and 10-year-old Michael Klenk, did not. Both were later recovered dead. USA Today reported that the children were from Garfield, New Jersey, with one family described as having ties to Passaic.

The boat ramp where the children entered the water is normally used by police and fire crews, not a swimming area, not a beach. How three kids ended up in the river from that spot remains unanswered.

A good Samaritan tried and failed to reach the children

Lora said a bystander at Pulaski Park attempted to jump into the river to rescue the children but could not reach them. The water was too deep and the current too strong. That detail underscores how dangerous the Passaic River can be, even for an adult willing to risk his own life.

By Thursday, July 30, officials shifted from a rescue operation to a recovery mission. The search covered nearly nine miles of the river and deployed boats, sonar equipment, drones, helicopters, and cadaver dogs. More than two dozen marine units from local, county, and state agencies participated. The scale of the response reflected both the severity of the situation and the difficulty of locating anyone in a fast-moving, murky waterway.

Drowning remains one of the leading causes of death for children in the United States, and stories of adults sacrificing everything to save a drowning child are a grim reminder of how quickly water can turn fatal.

An alert couple kept the current from carrying Dulan's body to Newark Bay

Lora credited the couple near the Market Street Bridge with making the recovery possible. Without their call, he said, the river's fast, powerful current could have carried Dulan's body through the night and out toward Newark Bay, miles downstream and far harder to search.

Lora told CBS News:

"Had that couple not said anything, and the current, as fast and as strong as it was, would've continued all night, there could be a possibility [the body] would've ended up by the Newark Bay."

After the recovery, officials brought Dulan's mother to the scene. She identified her daughter. Lora said the family experienced both grief and some measure of comfort in finally having confirmation after two agonizing days of waiting.

The pain of losing a child is something no parent should have to endure, and families who have lived through such loss know the devastation never fully recedes.

PIX11 identified both children; key questions remain unanswered

New York television station PIX11 identified the two deceased children as Milian Dulan and Michael Klenk, both 10 years old. The 11-year-old girl who survived has not been publicly named.

Several basic questions remain open. Officials have not stated how the children ended up on a boat ramp intended for emergency crews. The relationship between the three children, whether they were siblings, friends, or neighbors, has not been clarified publicly. No official cause of death has been announced, though the circumstances point to drowning. And it is unclear whether any investigation has been opened into supervision of the children or the safety conditions at the Pulaski Park ramp.

The exact timing of Klenk's recovery relative to Dulan's has not been disclosed. The article states only that his body was "later recovered."

Tragedies involving children often raise hard questions about accountability and safety, questions that families facing sudden, life-altering crises know all too well.

A boat ramp is not a playground

Pulaski Park sits along the Passaic River in a densely populated stretch of northern New Jersey. The boat ramp where the children entered the water is a working launch point for police and fire vessels, not a recreational swimming spot. Whether the ramp was fenced, gated, signed, or otherwise secured against public access is not addressed in available reporting. That gap matters.

Cities across the country maintain infrastructure along rivers, canals, and reservoirs. When that infrastructure sits inside a public park, the line between accessible and dangerous can blur fast, especially for children. Whether Passaic officials took adequate steps to keep kids away from a known hazard is a question someone should be asking, and answering, publicly.

When a young person dies under circumstances that demand scrutiny, the community deserves transparency, not silence.

Two ten-year-olds are dead. One family has closure only in the most brutal sense of the word. The people responsible for public safety in Passaic owe that community a full accounting of what happened at that boat ramp, and what they intend to do so it never happens again.