And from those dramatic accidents to the drowning of two minors on Sunday. The first happened at around 2:30 in the river near Banana Bank. 12 year old Sandy Lopez was with her dad and other siblings in the river when the current swept her and her older sister away. Their father, Valley of Peace resident Armando Lopez was able to save his older daughter Dianna but he couldn't save little Sandy. Lopez told us that he will be forever haunted by the sound of his helpless daughter screaming out for help. Here is Lopez's very emotional account with English subtitles.
Armando Lopez, Father
"I was with them in the river. I went with them in the river. It was three of my daughters, and one little boy with me. I stayed with three of them in one corner, it was shallow, maybe about 12 inches of water and she was with my other older daughter who is about 15 going on 16. They went into a deeper part in the river and the current took them under. When the water was higher than their waist, they shouted "Daddy!! Daddy I need help" and I left the kids and I ran, it was... Very impossible for me when I got there they grabbed on to my neck and they pushed me under. I tried to lift them up."
"I held my older daughter on my right shoulder, I remember it well, and I shouted at my daughter, I told her baby grab on to the shirt. She grabbed the shirt but she needed to get her head above the water but she couldn't do it , it is Sandy and then she let go of the shirt and I couldn't do anything for her and that is the last thing I will forget in my life when she was shouting "Daddy help me, daddy help me.""
"My little girl was a very important little girl in the things of God. She had a lot of love and interest. Every time they had church service, she worried a lot because she put had a lot of interest in the things of God. Every time they asked questions in church she would always raise her hand and she always responded. Sometimes she didn't even need the Bible, she had it all in her mind, the verses of the Bible that they asked about, she knew them all, thank God. She was very emotional and involved in the teachings of God. She was lively and very popular, she had a lot of friends."
Little Sandy was in Standard 5. Her parents said that she was very excited about graduating from Primary School and heading off to high school. As you heard she was very much involved in her church at that young age.
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