Manjeet Singh Fresno California man drowns trying to save 3 children from drowning at Kings River in Reedley. Good Samaritan emigrated from India two years ago.
A Fresno Good Samaritan has drowned while trying to save three drowning children — all strangers to him — in California this week.
Manjeet Singh, 29, died after jumping into the Kings River after seeing two girls and a boy get swept away by the current at the popular recreation area in Reedley, abc30 reports.
Singh — who was there to go jet skiiing — lost his life, as did one of the two girls.
He had come to the US from India two years ago, and recently moved to Fresno, where he started a truck business officials said.
He had just started truck driving school Wednesday. After training ended he wanted to cool off, so he went down to the Kings River with his brother-in-law to ride jet skis.
Good Samaritan put children’s lives ahead of his
It’s there in what was supposed to be a peaceful evening respite the selfless man noticed commotion in the water ahead of him. Without giving thought the man jumped in a desperate bid to help save the drowning children.
‘He went in to try to help them and unfortunately went under pretty quickly and never came back up,’ Reedley police Commander Marc Ediger told reporters.
Two of the kids were able to get to safety but a third could not make it to shore. She was pulled out after about 15 minutes underwater.
Of the two surviving children, other bystanders had been able to pull one of the kids out, an 8-year-old girl who remained on life support, police said. The other surviving child, a boy, was able to climb to shore on his own.
Reedley Police said this time of year the water can be dangerous and deceiving. The area beyond the shore dramatically drops off, and the current picks up.
‘I think the kids waded out too far and started being carried by the current under the bridge,’ Ediger said.
Police said they did not know whether Singh even knew how to swim and if any clothes he was wearing may have weighed him down, making it harder to tread water.
It took rescue workers 40 minutes to find him and pull him from the water.
