An Iowa police chief says authorities have recovered the bodies of three young children who apparently drowned in a river during a Fourth of July outing with family and friends.

Marshalltown Police Chief Mike Tupper says the two girls, one 7 and the other 9, and one 7-year-old boy found Wednesday night in the Iowa River were family members. Authorities searched the river for more than three hours after they were separated from others who were swimming.

It happened in the central Iowa city of Marhalltown, about 50 miles northeast of Des Moines.

Tupper says drought has left the river shallow. There are places where it's only ankle deep, but other pockets of 12-plus feet of water.

Last month, another child drowned in the same river about two miles away.