( CNN ) Eighteen-month-old twins drowned after their mother tried to fend off a bee and let go of their stroller , which rolled into a canal , Arizona police said . Alexis Keslar was walking with her twin sons , Silas and Eli Keslar , along a canal Friday when she tried to repel a bee , police in Yuma said . `` The stroller rolled away from her into the canal , with the boys belted in the seat , '' police said Monday . Keslar went into the canal and tried to rescue her sons , authorities said , but was hampered by the steep sides of the canal , the depth of the water and the force of the current . The current washed the stroller away . After Keslar got out of the canal , she called for help , police said . The irrigation district that manages the canal slowed the flow of water and reduced the water level to help emergency workers find the boys , authorities said . After more than an hour of searching , the toddlers were found and flown to a hospital , where they were pronounced dead . `` No parent should ever have to lose a child , you know , let alone both of them at the same time , '' family friend Marlene Gleim told CNN affiliate KYMA . `` That 's what really , really is heartbreaking to me , because those little boys were , you know , meant so much to so many people . '' Authorities say the paths along Yuma canals are popular for joggers and bicyclists , but can be dangerous . `` Many people typically do not comprehend how swift the current in these canals are and how deep the water can be , '' Yuma police said . `` They also do not realize how difficult it is to climb back up many of the canal embankments . ''
Silas and Eli ##nie , both six months old , drowned in an irrigation canal . Their mother was trying to fend of a bee when the driver drove away , police intervened .