Heroic last act of California hikers who drowned in frigid waterfall in front of shocked friends
Two hikers who lost their lives at a California waterfall had jumped into save their friend before all three tragically drowned.
Matthew Schoenecker, 50, of Los Angeles, and Matthew Anthony, 44, of New York, died while trying to save their friend Valentino Creus, 59, who was struggling in the water.
'He started panicking and then the two Matts jumped in to save him, but they couldn’t and they drowned,' Juan Heredia, the diver who discovered their bodies, told The Los Angeles Times. Heredia found Anthony's body about 45 feet under in the waterfall pool. The other two were located directly under the waterfall together at roughly 47 feet down.
Creus was the least experienced of the group of six hikers and had hesitated before jumping into Rattlesnake Falls behind Schoenecker.
Another friend had also jumped into the falls, but was able to get to safety.
The three men went missing on June 18 after they didn't resurface. The three others were airlifted out of the area.
Heredia discovered the bodies on Saturday, remarking on Facebook that the, 'waterfall was brutal'.'It kept pushing me down,' he wrote. 'But I wasn’t leaving without bringing those three souls home to their families.'
Heredia had to dive four times in three-minute intervals into the 'freezing cold water'.
'I couldn’t wait. I knew they wouldn’t surface for weeks in that water,' he wrote.
He got a signal around 9pm and contacted the sheriff's department, who immediately sent in a team.
The diver was contacted by a family friend to find the three men's bodies. He did not get paid for the dangerous endeavor.
The day out turned deadly despite Schoenecker's experience at the same waterfall. A picture on his Facebook profile shows him diving into the same pool in 2015, although when conditions were much calmer.
A friend of Creus, Matt Meeks, posted a heartbreaking tribute about him on Facebook following his death.
He's remembered Creus as, 'a true friend' who would 'always give advice.'
'As I reflect on his death, I can't think of a more fitting way for Val to go,' Meeks said, referring to a time his late friend told him how there was never air conditioning in universities in the Philippines. Source
Comments
Post a Comment