Friends Die by Drowning on Easter Sunday

Two friends lost their lives in a drowning incident on Easter Sunday. Esau Castillo and Eduardo Martinez were reportedly socialising at the riverbank near the Iguana Creek Bridge. Sometime during their visit there, they decided to go for a swim in the river. But the two men never made it out of the water alive. News Five’s Marion Ali has the story.

 

Marion Ali, Reporting
Two friends, Esau Castillo from La Gracia Village and Eduardo Martinez from Melchor de Mencos, Guatemala died while swimming together on Easter Sunday. The men were reportedly swimming in a race against each other when their outing quickly turned into a nightmare in the river near the Iguana Creek Bridge, Cayo. Despite efforts by the Spanish Lookout Fire Rescue team, it was too late to save them on Easter Sunday evening. Peter Friessen lives near the area where the incident happened.

 

Peter Friessen, Resident, Iguana Creek
“I live close to the bridge and I noticed the ambulance and the fire truck went to the river, so with my own interest I went there to see what happened. Apparently, friends were at the river and two guys decided to do a little race with the swimming. They never made it to their destination where racing to.”

 

According to Friessen, it didn’t take very long to recover the first victim’s body, but the search for the other one took a bit longer.

 

Peter Friessen

“As I reached there they had found one body already and took him out and they were searching for the second and within an hour they found the second one and Spanish to go with rescue team were out there  to look at it and they had used a drone To look into the water and that’s where they find the second body In the river, so they were taken out as well before dark.”

 

Elisandro Paz knew both men who died. Castillo was his employee and the other, came by once a week. But the day they died, he saw them minutes earlier.

 

Voice of: Elisandro Paz, Employer of Esau Castillo

“I saw maybe 15, 20 minutes before that happened when I was in the river I do my barbecue there and, after that I was playing with my kids in the water. A few minutes I was in the water, they – somebody called me that the guys come down there and they come down in the river. I walked down there and we didn’t see nobody. Yeah.”

Marion Ali

“You had him working on your house, which means now that that work has stopped.”

 

Voice of: Elisandro Paz

“Yeah. Right now everything stop soh yeah, we feel so bad that happened, noh.”

 

Friessen and Paz lament that, from time to time lives are lost at the location. They hope that this tragedy serves as a sombre reminder of the dangers that can lurk beneath the surface.

 

Voice of: Elisandro Paz

“Especially how it’s hot I think most of the people want to swim a little bit, noh but yeah, I say they nuh take care because that was deep there. 02:16

Peter Friessen

“Every once in a while it happens, but people go a lot to the river to take a swim when it’s hot. I think it’s always good to take advice if people advise them not to swim.  And watch the water and – but it’s a good thing to learn to swim from young.”

 

Marion Ali for News Five.