Marvin Alexan Fernandez Chicas Pennsylvania dad drowns saving two young boys at Lake Nockamixon, despite not being able to swim himself.
A Pennsylvania man has been hailed a hero after saving two drowning children only to lose his own life while fishing at a local creek with his own young son.
Marvin Alexan Fernandez Chicas, 37, was spending the day with his 3-year-old son Dylan and a few friends on Lake Nockamixon when he sprang into action upon observing two young kids struggling in the water. The father jumped in despite himself unable to swim.
‘They apparently got in some trouble in the water, he went in to help them,’ said Haycock Township Fire Chief Harry Grim, according to WFMZ. ‘Unfortunately he can’t swim. The kids got out, he did not.’
‘Hero dad disappeared in the water’
Chicas originally noticed the two kids struggling near Tohickon Creek in the cliffs area around 5 p.m., Thursday the Morning Call reported, citing the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR).
His body was found two hours after 10 divers scoured the area.
The Bucks County coroner’s office said Chicas, 37, ‘disappeared in the water’ after rescuing the children swimming at Nockamixon State Park on Thursday evening.
‘He was a man who liked fishing and that day he [was] doing what he liked together with some friends and son,’ his family said in a GoFundme fundraiser.
Money raised would go toward sending his body back to his mother in Honduras and to help his wife and son who he leaves behind with finances.
‘Unfortunately, people don’t follow the rules…’
The fundraiser described Chicas who worked at a nearby horse stable, as a hard-working man and an excellent father whose son never wanted to leave his side.
‘He became a hero for everyone,’ following his courageous actions, the fundraiser stated.
The DCNR prohibits swimmers from Tohickon Creek and Lake Nockamixon.
‘Unfortunately, people don’t follow the rules, and the sad reality is it’s not a smooth, gradual slope under the water, and they step off into a deep area, they take a gulp of water and they die, unfortunately,’ Grim, the fire chief, reportedly said. ‘It shouldn’t happen, but it does.’
Grim said when they finally located Fernandez-Chicas, he was about 25 feet from shore. Grim said the two children did not sustain any injuries.
