Hero dad was fishing with son when he drowned saving 2 kids in Pennsylvania creek
The hero dad who drowned saving two kids was fishing with his young son when he sprang into action — even though he couldn’t swim.
Marvin Alexan Fernandez Chicas was spending the day with his 3-year-old son Dylan and a few friends on Lake Nockamixon when he “drowned in the lake, giving his life for two children” struggling in the water, the man’s family wrote in a GoFundMe post.
The two children were rescued, but the 37-year-old dad disappeared into the water and died Thursday evening.
“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.”
Chicas originally noticed the two kids struggling near Tohickon Creek in the cliffs area around 5 p.m., 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.
“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 the online 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.
The fundraiser described him 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 said.
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.”
