10-year-old boy's body pulled from New Jersey river as rescuers search for his sister

Rescuers in New Jersey are still searching for a 10-year-old girl after finding her 10-year-old brother's body in the Passaic River late Wednesday night, Passaic Mayor Hector Lora told reporters.

'Right now, all of our efforts are in trying to recover the body but hoping that perhaps, maybe hope against all things, that we could find the little girl still alive," Lora told FOX 5 New York in an interview.

Lora hoped aloud that the little girl was still alive, hypothesizing that her now deceased brother helped push her to safety.

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"The 10-year-old boy, as he was going down, maybe an angel, maybe God used him to push his little sister, and now she made her way out so she's home. But the mother has lost her little boy," Lora said.

Lora also told reporters that calls for help came in around 6:20 p.m. local time Wednesday after bystanders saw three children in the water, according to FOX 5.

A good Samaritan unsuccessfully tried to help the children out of the water, the outlet reported.

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Search and rescue operations were ongoing into Thursday morning. The efforts were hampered in part by high water levels due to recent storms.

The search and rescue operations included members of the the Passaic Police Department, the Passaic County Sheriff's Office and the New Jersey State Police.

Fox News Digital contacted the Passaic Police Department, the Passaic County Sheriff's Office and the New Jersey State Police for further information.