{"id":343625,"date":"2026-06-02T23:43:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T23:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/343625\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T23:43:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T23:43:11","slug":"fresno-county-authorities-report-mendota-man-drowns-in-san-joaquin-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/343625\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresno County Authorities Report Mendota Man Drowns in San Joaquin River"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A 24-year-old Mendota man died after being pulled from the San Joaquin River on Monday evening, authorities said.<\/p>\n<p>James Romero Soriano drowned after entering the river near San Mateo Avenue around 5:30 p.m., according to the Fresno County Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n<p>Investigators said Soriano, who did not know how to swim, entered the water while spending time at the river with a small group of friends. The river\u2019s current quickly carried him away, and he went underwater.<\/p>\n<p><a data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/gvwire.com\/contact\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"a2t-link\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"GVWire-Ad-Get-our-mobile-app-1280\u00d790-1\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GVWire-Ad-Get-our-mobile-app-1280x90-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"\"   width=\"1280\" height=\"90\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>His friends called 911 and continued searching for him. After about 15 minutes, they found Soriano and pulled him to shore, authorities said.<\/p>\n<p>Deputies, CalFire firefighters and emergency medical personnel arrived and began CPR. Soriano was flown by SkyLife helicopter to Community Regional Medical Center, where he later died.<\/p>\n<p>The Fresno County Sheriff\u2019s Office urged residents to take precautions around pools and natural waterways, including wearing properly fitted U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jackets, avoiding swimming if they are not experienced swimmers, supervising children at all times, and refraining from mixing alcohol with swimming.<\/p>\n<p>Officials also warned that river currents can be stronger than they appear and that cold water temperatures, underwater debris, and muddy lake and river bottoms can create hazardous conditions.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-117317 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Life-Saving-Water-Tips-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"A listing of water safety tips\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\"  \/>(GV Wire Composite\/Paul Marshall)<\/p>\n<p>\u2014<\/p>\n<p>Connect with\u00a0\u00a0on social media. Got a tip? Send an\u00a0.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 24-year-old Mendota man died after being pulled from the San Joaquin River on Monday evening, authorities said.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343626,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-343625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}