3 Siblings Drown and 1 Survives After 'Strong' Rip Current and Waves Overtake Them in Texas

Photo: ABC13

A Houston mother and father, who were parents to four children, have been left “distraught” and heartbroken after three of their kids tragically drowned while swimming in Texas this week.

“I just did a jump in the water — go straight for the boy drowning,” Alvarez, 23, told the outlet. “I kept him up, but the current kept pulling us both down, so I knew to just keep him up. I didn’t care if I drowned or not.”

The tragedy unfolded just before 7:30 p.m. on Thursday while the family of six was enjoying the water at Sylvan Beach Park in La Porte, a spokesperson with the Chambers County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO)announced in a statement on Facebook.

“Upon arrival of the Chambers County deputies, it was learned that a family from the Houston area were swimming in the park when an otherwise beautiful afternoon took a tragic turn,” the post says, adding that the LaPorte, Texas Police Department also responded to the incident.

According to the CCSO spokesperson, the mother, father and four children, who ranged in age from 7 to 13, were swimming when they “began having trouble in the water.”

Alvarez, who was sitting on the sand at the time of the incident, said her dog started barking when the family started to struggle in the water, according to ABC 13.

She also noted to the outlet that the parents and their children were on separate sides of the water, but it was clear that the youngsters did not know how to swim and that the parents were having a difficult time attempting to rescue them.

“I saw the parents were trying to grab them, but then I saw the mom and dad go under,” she recalled, before heroically jumping in after the child. “I didn’t know it was super deep where he was, where everyone was drowning.”

With the help of Alvarez and other beachgoers, the parents and their 10-year-old son were rescued from the aggressive waters.

Veronika Alvarez.ABC13

Alvarez, who was taken to the hospital for inhaling “small amounts of water” into her lungs but was released overnight, said she was heartbroken to learn that the boy’s three siblings had died in the incident, as she was unaware at the time that they also needed help.

“I thought the other hands I was feeling were the people around me,” Alvarez told ABC 13. “I didn’t know there were other kids going down. I would have tried my best. I found out at the hospital there were three other ones, and I just started crying.”

The crime scene.ABC13

As for what prompted her to take such quick action? “A life is a life,” she said.

“It just depended on someone jumping in,” Alvarez continued. “I just jumped in because no one was responding. Everybody was quick to grab their phones, but I was like, it’s not important. What’s important is the people who are drowning.”

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“Things happened really quickly,” Gonzalez said, per CNN. “A lot of people were out here, the kids were playing, Mom and Dad were here, as well.”

The Sheriff also noted that after the four-hour search for the children and learning of their tragic deaths, the parents “are very distraught.”

“There’s no way to make it any softer,” he said.

source: people.com