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Three people drowned in a Florida river over the weekend after two friends reportedly tried to help a teen who had been struggling in the water.
Santos Tiul-Chen, 17, was among a group at a church youth event who stayed behind to swim, according to the Lee County Sheriff's Office. The teen reportedly began struggling after he went into the Caloosahatchee River at W.P. Franklin Lock Park.
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His friend, 19-year-old Victor Pedro-Gaspar, then jumped into the water to help, but also allegedly struggled to stay afloat. That's when another friend, 21-year-old Pedro Miguel Pascual, went into the river to help both of them.
The Lee County Sheriff's Office said a fourth person jumped into the water to try help the three victims and was later taken to the hospital.
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Divers later found the three victims unresponsive but none of them survived, according to the sheriff's office.
Friends said two of the victims did know how to swim and called them heroes for trying to help.
“It’s actually something heroic. They did to try to save their friend that was drowning, but it all soundly ended in tragedy, trying to save their one loved friend,” Neyda Velesquez said.
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The water was reportedly about 10 feet deep where the drownings happened.
