Houseboats on Lake Powell, Utah
Houseboats on Lake Powell, UtahiStock

A Colorado mother drowned saving her two year-old son after he tipped into the water in Lake Powell, Utah. Lake Powell is a resevoir bounded between Arizona and Utah.

Chelsey J. Russell was touring Lake Powell on her houseboat with her family on August 23 when her young son fell overboard.

The 35 year-old mother leaped after him, while her brother frantically tried to cut power to the engine of the houseboat.

Neither mother nor toddler were wearing a life jacket, despite the law that boaters under 12 are required to wear one at the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.

Chelsey held her little boy above water, supporting him on her chest, while her brother frantically worked to cut loose the motorboat they were towing behind the houseboat, and raced to reach her. The boat had drifted far away from the pair.

When he made it to the site, several minutes after the child had fallen in, Chelsey was already unconscious.

"A family member was able to untie a smaller boat being towed from behind the houseboat and get to the mother and child before going completely under the water," Rick Eldridge, the San Juan County Sheriff, said in a statement on Thursday.

"The conscious child was rescued from atop the mother’s chest; however, the mother was unconscious when pulled from the water."

Eldridge explained to CBS News: "She was holding the baby out of the water the best that she could."

Russell, an associate at law firm Welborn Sullivan Meck & Tooley in Denver, was pronounced dead after CPR was administered for 30 minutes.

"Chelsey was an amazing mother, an exceptional legal talent, an extraordinary athlete, a loyal and generous friend, and left us all better for knowing her. She is sorely missed," her law firm stated on its website.

Russell's toddler was released from a hospital in Flagstaff, Arizona after it was determined he was in stable condition.