Family, Friends Mourn Loss After Girls Found In Margate Canal
MARGATE (CBSMiami) -- Two children died after being pulled from a Margate canal Tuesday evening, according to Margate Police.
Investigators said the victims are 4-year old Louidline Louima and her 2-year old sister, Louidjiena Louima.
The parents of the girls were overcome with grief as family members streamed to the home to pay their respects throughout Tuesday evening. Tracey Noonan lives across the street from the family's home. He said the girls' father told him what happened.
Click here to watch Carey Codd's report.
"They were out in the front yard, being outside together and he went in to get some water for them and he came out and they were gone," Noonan told CBS4's Carey Codd. "Just that fast. He said it was less than five minutes."
Police said the father immediately called 911 to request help. Noonan said he lent his kayaks to police as officers and paramedics descended on the neighborhood to search for the children. First responders pulled both girls from the canal.
Tracey Noonan cannot imagine the father's pain.
"The guilt has just got to be tremendous," Noonan said.
Neighbors reacted in horror, saying they saw the children playing often and walking the neighborhood with their parents and family members all the time. Margaret Hunter said the girls loved her flowers and she just shared flowers with them on Monday.
"It's inconceivable how things happen in a blink of an eye," said Hunter.
In minutes, there were two children gone, parents devastated and a neighborhood in grief. A cousin of the sisters said he wonders how the mother will carry on.
"She feels that she lost everything," said Djemsy Corvil. "Because she ain't have no one with her right now."
Margate Police said they continue to investigate the case.
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