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A 9-year-old has died of drowning a day after she fell into the Provo River.

Caitlin Buchkowski, of Aurora, Colo., was in Utah visiting relatives for a family member's 50th birthday. The family was visiting Bridal Veil Falls about noon Monday when Caitlin slipped into the river and was carried about a mile downstream. Searchers found her more than 30 minutes later, submerged against a rock. She was not breathing.

She died about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Provo Deputy Fire Chief Gary Jolley said search and rescue teams pulled the girl from the river just below Nunns Park around 12:40 p.m. She was found in a seated position against the rock and likely was in the chilly water for at least 40 minutes.

The girl apparently slipped into the water as her relatives were looking at the falls, Jolley said.

Two women who had tried to help pull the girl to shore were taken to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center after they suffered bumps and bruises.

Jolley said there is no way to know how long the girl was underwater. She may have been able to grasp onto branches or rocks for some time before she went underwater, he said.

Witness Larry Menlove said he was relaxing near the river during his lunch break when he saw people rushing to the shore.

But a crowd of people in the park did nothing, he said, adding that some continued to eat their fast food at a picnic table even as three people came running downstream. A soaked man and woman, who Menlove believes were the girl's relatives, said there was a girl in the water.

A third man crouched on the rocks in the river and looked for the girl. Menlove tried to spot the girl but never saw her.

He said he was unable to sleep Monday night and was "haunted."

"I wonder if I hadn't sat in my car parked 30 feet away playing Brick Breaker [on his cellphone] yesterday, but had went out to the river," Menlove said. "Maybe she would have come by with her hand out within reach."

Buchkowski's family will be setting up an account, in her name, at Wells Fargo Bank to help cover the associated outstanding medical costs and have asked that any monetary donations be placed in that account.

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