Mattawa man drowns in irrigation canal
A Mattawa man died early Sunday morning while trying to remove a vehicle from an irrigation canal. Canals, like this one near Moses Lake, are extremely difficult to escape from once a vehicle is in the water, according to the East Columbia Basin Irrigation District.
FILE PHOTO
MATTAWA — A Mattawa man drowned in an irrigation canal northeast of Mattawa early Sunday morning, according to a statement from the Grant County Sheriff’s Office.
Johnny Sanchez Mendoza, 18, was driving a vehicle near the 7900 block of Wahluke Slope Road Southwest when the vehicle became stuck in a concrete canal chute, according to the statement. As Sanchez Mendoza and his passenger tried to push the vehicle free, Sanchez fell into the water and was swept away. His body was recovered about a half mile away. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Sanchez Mendoza’s body is in the care of Coroner Craig Morrison, whose staff will conduct an autopsy, according to the GCSO.
According to Danielle Walraf, an East Columbia Basin Irrigation District representative, it is extremely difficult to escape a vehicle once it enters a canal.
“Those canals are deep, and the water is moving,” Walraf told the Columbia Basin Herald in a previous interview. “If a vehicle goes in, it becomes a situation that people often can’t get out of.”