A 29-year-old Sikh drowned after sacrificing his own life to save three children from drowning in Kings River in California on August 5.
Manjeet Singh, who came to the U.S. two years ago and moved to Fresno, California to start a trucking business, jumped in the water to save the three children at Reedley Beach after they were swept away by the current, according to KFSN.
Singh was visiting the beach after attending his trucking school when he heard the commotion. He tried to use his turban to save the children, but after that didn’t work, he reportedly jumped in to go after them.
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“He went in to try to help them and unfortunately went under pretty quickly and never came back up,” Reedley Police Commander Marc Ediger told the TV station.
It took authorities more than half an hour to recover Singh’s body from the river.
“I think the kids waded out too far and started being carried by the current under the bridge,” he said.
Two of the children were saved, but an 8-year-old girl was pulled out 15 minutes later. She was rushed to Valley Children’s Hospital and put on life support. She was at the beach with her friends and their families. The girl’s family is from Mexico and her parents are attempting to book her siblings a flight to her location to see her one last time.
A GoFundMe campaign was created by the man’s cousin, Manjit Singh, to help bring Singh’s remains back to his family in India, People reported. The campaign has received $122,842 donations out of its $200,000 goal as of this writing.
“He was the breadwinner of his family,” Singh’s cousin said in the GoFundMe post. “His family lives in India. His parents are elders and he came to the United States to help them financially and live the American Dream.”
Feature Image via Dr. Rajwant Singh
