A man who tried to save a woman who died after she fell off a boat in the Miami River speaks.
Editor's note: Friends told NBC6 days later that the victim went by he/him/his pronouns. Miami Police initially reported that the victim was a woman.
A person who fell from a boat and into the Miami River on Sunday afternoon has died, authorities said Monday.
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Miami Police Marine Patrol responded to the scene around 4 p.m. after receiving reports of a woman falling overboard.
Crews were later able to locate him and video from Only in Dade shows them pulling him out of the water. He was then rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital.
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Miami Police confirmed on Monday morning that he did not survive. His identity hasn't been released.
Witness Fernando Veliz spoke with NBC6 on Monday and said he was on a personal watercraft with his girlfriend in the Miami River when he saw people on a boat screaming and pointing at the water. At first he thought it was a dog that ended up in the water.
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"When we get around the boat, we see that it's actually a person," Veliz said. "I realize and I was like, she's actually drowning. and I took my vest off and I tried to jump in there to get her."
Veliz said he couldn't reach the woman.
"By the time I was jumping in, she was pretty much, like she couldn't fight any more, and she was starting to sink a bit and that's when I jumped in. I realized she really needed help, she was going to drown for real," he said. "By the time I got to her, she was too deep and I tried to dive under as far as I could but you couldn't see anything under there, all I could see was green."
Veliz said he learned Monday that the person died.
"I know that I did what I could but I wish of course I could have been a little bit faster and maybe we would be having a different type of discussion right now," he said.
What led to him falling overboard and the amount of time he spent in the river remains unclear. Miami Police are investigating.
