SOUTH JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — A Good Samaritan paid the ultimate price after rescuing two children from a river in South Jersey on Wednesday.
Authorities in Atlantic County said 49-year-old Pablo Hernandez Cruz noticed two boys, ages 8 and 12, struggling in the Great Egg Harbor River in Mays Landing. He jumped in and saved them but went underwater immediately after.
Others pulled him out and he was rushed to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. Both boys were taken to the hospital. The older boy was released and the 8-year-old was transferred to CHOP.
Swimming is prohibited at the Weymouth Furnace area, a park where many visitors go canoeing, kayaking and tubing. Officials said it’s colder and deeper than people realize. A 23-year-old man drowned there in 2021.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help Hernandez Cruz’s family with funeral expenses.