A heartbreaking video has emerged of the aftermath of a family’s overturned raft on a Raging River ride at the Adventureland waterpark in Altoona, Iowa.
Michel Jaramillo, 11, was in the raft with his brothers David and Gus, their parents Sabrina and David, and two others when the raft flipped over.
The boys tried to save each other in the fast and strong current but they couldn’t, their heartbroken father said.
The parents said that they were celebrating David’s 16th birthday when the tragedy happened.
Michael died on Saturday while his older brother David remains in critical condition in the hospital.
A video obtained by Good Morning America shows the parents screaming in the water as their children, still strapped into the raft, drown in the fast-moving current.
David, the father, even tried to flip the raft back but couldn’t as he had broken his shoulder in the tragic incident.
He said in an interview: “When it flipped over, all of us were trapped in seats and seatbelts. I see the silhouettes of my sons trying to grab each other, grab us. They wanted us to help them but we couldn’t do it.
“I am looking around for anyone to help us… you could see the kids little hands… they were trying to reach for us to help them.”
David said everyone managed to unbuckle their seats except for the two boys as they all struggled against the strong current.
“I’m drowning. The river was so intense, it was like a suction,” he said.
Sabrina said in tears: “I feel like Adventureland robbed me of my baby. I wont ever get a chance to see him grow up.”
The Altoona Police Department is investigating the incident.
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