Teenaged Good Samaritan Dies Trying to Save Driver Who Crashed into Florida Canal

Aden Perry was pronounced dead at a local hospital after jumping into a Florida canal to save a driver who plunged in moments before

Photo: cbs miami

Two Florida teenagers are dead after one crashed their car into a local canal, and the other jumped in to save him.

On Tuesday after 10 p.m., a lost 18-year-old driving a Lexus — later identified as Venkata Sai Krishnamurthy — plunged into a Sunrise canal, WSVN reported. Krishnamurthy was reportedly leaving a basketball game and heading to a Taco Bell at the time of the incident. He was getting directions while on his phone when he crashed, according to the outlet.

Shortly after, a 17-year-old — identified as Western High School junior Aden Perry — who was nearby with his mother dove into the canal, trying to save the driver, the WSVN added.

"I heard a lady screaming, 'Oh, my son, my son he went into the lake,' " a bystander said, per WSVN. "And then she said he doesn't know how to swim. It was very sad."

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Krishnamurthy and Perry went several moments before being seen, NBC Miami reported.

"It did take them a while to find the first person they pulled out," neighbor Daniel Welborn told NBC Miami. "It was like 15 or 20 minutes."

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The driver — who was said to be in the car alone — was declared dead at the canal, and Perry was given CPR after police units and the fire department arrived at the scene. He was taken to Broward Health Medical Center and was later pronounced dead, per the news outlet.

A neighbor, Gary Grove, told NBC Miami, "It's just unfortunate, who knows what happened when he went in there to try to open the door, maybe he got caught up in it. It's a very sad, very brave act to do something like that. It's sad to lose your life over that. My condolences to the family."

Perry's loved ones told WSVN that he was a smart teen with a promising future.

Fire and police crews did not leave the canal until 5 a.m. Wednesday, Miami Standard said.

The Sunrise Fire Department and Sunrise Police Department did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's requests for comment.