A pair of heroic teens recalled the moment they found and comforted two terrified young children after their parents drowned in an Ohio river Sunday night.
Jordan Karhoff and Lauren Velazquez were driving her three younger siblings to get ice cream when they spotted the kids, whose parents and three others had drowned while on a fishing trip, according to 10TV.
“I rolled down my window, and I looked at the girl,” Velazquez told the outlet. “I was like, ‘Are you guys okay?’ And then that’s when they screamed, ‘Our parents are dead! Our parents are dead!’”
Jordan Karhoff (left), Lauren Velazquez (center) and a younger sibling (right). The teens discovered two kids on the road after their parents died. 10 WBNS
Rescue crews search for the bodies of the drowned boaters on the Scioto River. Univision
“The little kids were just shaking … The girl had no clothes on. She was latched onto me, so that’s when I took off my shirt and I gave it to her,” she said.
Their parents — Jose Mario Pineda Dias, 33, and Marina Suyapa Regalad, 28 — were fishing in the Scioto River with three friends when a man in their group jumped in for a swim and began struggling in the water.
All five died after the swimmer’s friends jumped in to rescue him.
Karhoff and Velazquez called for help when they found the kids and stayed with them until first responders arrived, they told 10TV.
Possibly the last photo taken of the group, who had been fishing on the river when they drowned. AP
“Just seeing the way that the boy reacted when we rolled down the window and saying, ‘My parents are dead,’ that was something we could have never expected,” Karhoff said.
“When the medics wanted to check her out, she was like, ‘Please do not leave me,’” Velazquez said of the little girl.
Honduran authorities confirmed that four of the five adults who died in the horrifying ordeal were citizens of Honduras, including two married couples.
Jordan Karhoff, Lauren Velazquez and her younger siblings describe what they saw Sunday night near the Scioto River. 10 WBNS
Collage of five portraits with “VÍCTIMAS” (VICTIMS) above, identifying Jose Mario Pineda, Marina Suyapa Regalad, Miguel Ángel Guerra, and Carmen Idalia Lara Ferrera, with one portrait listed as “NO IDENTIFICADA” (NOT IDENTIFIED). Univision
The repatriation process for the young kids could take up to a month, officials said.
The two children are currently in the care of Ohio family services, and arrangements will be made to reunite them with their relatives in Honduras.
It still remains unclear how the group became swept under the water, which was running high and fast.
Jose Mario Pineda Dias, 33, his wife, Marina Suyapa Regalad, 28, and their two children were joined by another married couple and an adult friend on the trip to the Scioto River. Univision
The group of young people who stopped to help kids stranded after their parents died.
10 WBNS
The river was flowing at a rate of 350 cubic feet per second on Sunday — more than double the average rate, according to data from a US Geological Survey water gauge at the nearby dam.
A photo taken by a passing boater appeared to show the crew thigh-deep in the river in Powell, north of Columbus, with fishing poles.
