2 Plantation High School students dead after car plunges into Sunrise canal
FORT LAUDERDALE -- Two Plantation High School students have died after a car went into a Sunrise canal on Wednesday afternoon.
Calls came in about a car in a canal in the 7700 block of west Oakland Park Boulevard at around 5:30 p.m.
The teens were able to exit the vehicle but were not able to reach the bank of the canal, according to authorities.
Police said that bystanders, as well as, a Sunrise Police officer entered the water to search for the two teens but were unsuccessful.
Sunrise Fire-Rescue eventually located the female teen and transported her to Florida Medical Center where she later died.
Broward Sheriff's Office Dive Team located the male teenager, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said the families have been notified but we are not releasing their names.
The male teenager was 16 and the female was 17.
Surveillance from the nearby Jersey College School of Nursing shows the sedan speeding through the parking lot. Seconds later, it went out of frame. What happened next will stick with Geffried Medelus, an IT coordinator at the school, forever. He said he heard witnesses screaming for help.
"They were like 'they're right here, they're right here,' so I'm like what's going on and they said there are some people in the water, they're drowning, they're drowning," he said.
With zero hesitation, Medelus and his colleague Doctor John Silva, a program coordinator at the college, threw their belongings on the ground and jumped into the water to try and help. Silva said he used his instinct and what he is trained to do - save lives.
"Nobody here could swim, that's what they were telling me, 'we can't swim, we can't swim,' so I went in and over to the bubbles, went down but I couldn't see anything in the water. I think the car kicked up a lot of silt when it went in," said Silva.
A student at the school also jumped in, but it was too late.
"None of the three could do anything, the car was well submerged at that point and all they could see was the bubbles coming up, so yeah, it was terrible," said Dennis Garberg, campus director.
Silva became emotional when he learned that both did not survive.
"I just wanted to save lives. I couldn't help," he said.
According to representatives from the college, the people involved in this accident were not associated with the school. They said the canal is a popular spot for people to fish or just park their car by and relax.
In a message to parents, the principal of Plantation High School said confirmed that two students died in an off-campus accident.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families during this extremely difficult time," Principal Parinaz Bristol said in the message.