Feb. 5 (UPI) — A California man died Sunday after he jumped into an aqueduct to save his 9-year-old son from drowning, police said.
The 31-year-old father, who has not yet been named, and his son were riding bikes on a path near the aqueduct in Hesperia, Calif., when the boy lost control of his bike and fell into the water, the Los Angeles Times reported. The father jumped in and was able to get his son out of the water, but he was swept away and not found until two hours later.
Cindy Bachman, a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, said the walls of the aqueduct are “slippery.”
“It’s not like if you fell in you could just climb back out,” Bachman said. “It had a very tragic ending, and if you’re not a strong swimmer, then you really don’t have a chance in that water.”
The victim’s family members said they heard him calling for help before he was swept away in the current, KABC-TV reported.
“It’s very cold, it moves very fast and, again, it’s hard to find anything to grasp onto,” Bachman said.
