CANYON LAKE, Texas – The search concluded Saturday for a 19-year-old man who drowned in Canyon Lake, according to the Comal County Sheriff’s Office.
Around 9 a.m. on April 20, Texas Parks and Wildlife Game Wardens found Roiner Alejandro Rojas Pereira’s body near Overlook Park, the sheriff’s office said on Facebook.
Pereira of San Antonio was floating on a tube around 7 p.m. on April 14 when he drifted toward the water intake near the Canyon Lake Dam.
Pereira did not know how to swim, said family friend Ana Palencia, and began to scream when he fell off the tube.
“He’s screaming in Spanish, ‘help me’ and, like, waving his arms. And then he goes underwater and like, we can’t see him anymore,” Palencia said.
Several family members and friends tried to swim out to him, Palencia said. Pereira resurfaced, but when his would-be rescuers were only feet away, he went under for the last time.
Pereira lived in San Antonio after recently coming up from Venezuela, Palencia said, describing him as “calm” and “hard-working.” Pereira and his brother would send money back to their dad in South America, she said.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Game Wardens, the Hays (SMART) Dive Team, and CCSO began their search again near Overlook Park on Monday morning.