BANDERA COUNTY, Texas – Witnesses said the family of a 22-year-old man who drowned at Medina Lake Tuesday was vacationing from overseas and celebrating the Fourth of July when the day took a tragic turn.
Priscilla Ramon was spending the day at the beach with her husband and kids and spoke to the victim's mother after searchers found his body.
"Like any mom, she was very heartbroken, didn't know where to turn. She didn't want to leave here, but she had to,” Ramon said.
The family had only been at the Bandera County Medina Lake Park beach an hour before they spread the word that the man was missing, Ramon said.
Search crews used nets to drag the bottom of the lake.
Witnesses said the man swam across a portion of the beach called Right Cove and had already jumped off a private pier there several times. He dove a final time and never came up.
The witness said the family was at the beach for the first time.
A language barrier had searchers thinking the man was a little boy, not an adult, which made it difficult to look in the right place.
"They were telling him to look underneath where he had jumped and that didn't happen," Ramon said.
Adam Antwine was enjoying the day as well before the family asked for help.
"Sheer hysteria. Just panic. Everyone started running. People started jumping in the water. All the rangers that I reported it to took their shirts off, shoes off, hats off, ran straight down the hill, jumped straight into the water," Antwine said.
The man's identity has still not been released by officials.
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