HEARTBREAKING details have been revealed about the desperate pleas for help from two children who watched their parents drown in a river leaving both orphaned.

The tragedy occurred on Sunday at the Scioto River in Ohio as five people, including two sets of parents, were enjoying a summer evening fishing in the waters.

Jose Mario Pineda Dias, 33, his wife Marina Suyapa Regaldo, 29, left behind their 6-year-old daughter

Miguel Angel Guerra, his wife Carmen Idalia Lara Ferrera, both 33, left behind a 7-year-old son

Jonathan Gabriel Vargas, 18, was identified as the fifth victim

The group of friends and relatives were fishing at the Scioto River in Ohio on Sunday before things took a devastating turn

The riverfront is a popular destination for locals, which is what drew Jose Mario Pineda Dias, 33, his wife Marina Suyapa Regaldo, 29, Miguel Angel Guerra, his wife Carmen Idalia Lara Ferrera, both 33, and Jonathan Gabriel Vargas, 18, to the Powell area.

But the group’s weekend outing took a devastating twist when one of the male victims went into the river for a swim and quickly struggled to stay afloat.

The other group members quickly realized the deadly predicament and quickly jumped into the water to try and save him.

What happened next sparked a devastating chain of events where one after the other each victim attempted to save the other from drowning, resulting in the death of all five friends.

The Delaware County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene and was able to save Ferrera and Regaldo.

The women were transported to the hospital, where they died.

The bodies of Dias, Guerra, and Vargas were recovered on Monday afternoon.

Jose Wil Reyes grew up with Guerra in their mountainous home of Lepaera, Honduras, a municipality of Lempira.

Reyes, who lives in Houston, learned about the heartbreaking news from his brothers in Ohio, who live in the same community as the five victims.

The victims had only arrived in the United States in 2022 and settled in the Columbus area.

Reyes said his siblings and others in their community began to worry when the group had not returned home by Monday morning.

“It’s a large community from our town in Honduras that live in this area there and they realized on the following morning that none of the victims had returned home,” Reyes told The U.S. Sun in Spanish.

“They were surprised and they began to ask if anyone had seen them. So they began to communicate with other, all the friends, neighbors, and went to the river to search for them.

“It’s a short distance from where they live, probably 40 minutes. And when they arrived at the location, they learned of the tragedy.

Delaware County Sheriff’s deputies pulled the bodies of the two women on Sunday evening and transported them to a hospital, where they later died

Authorities recovered the bodies of the three men on Monday morning

“They learned that police and rescuers had pulled the two women from the water. They were alive, but unfortunately they died at the hospital.”

Reyes described the victims as a close-knit family, saying Ferrera was his sister-in-law’s sibling.

“The victims were very close to our family. They were all one big family. They were kind people, very warm and hardworking,” Reyes said.

Reyes described how the children, aged six and seven, of one of the parents witnessed their loved ones struggling in the river and quickly ran for help.

“The good thing is that the children did not get in the water when they saw their parents struggling to stay afloat,” he said.

“One of the children ran to a nearby street and began stopping cars, asking for help, and pleading that the families were in the water and couldn’t get out.”

Two 911 callers reported seeing a child in a towel running along a state highway, according to audio obtained by ABC News.

“There was a little baby. I think it was like a boy. He was like screaming, like crying, like ‘Mama, mama!’” one of the callers said.

Police dispatch call obtained by The U.S. Sun depicted the harrowing moment authorities pulled the mothers’ bodies from the rough waters.

“The bodies are in there, there are two young juveniles, a young male and a young female, they don’t have any parents,” a deputy is heard saying.

Another officer is heard saying, “We got two victims in the raft at this time, we’re trying to resuscitate.”

“We got two bodies total coming out right now, we’re not exactly sure how many are left in the water. We’re still looking for at least one.”

But as the women were transported to a hospital, deputies continued to search the water looking for the three men.

“Boat 92 has a fourth shoe that is different from any previous found,” a deputy is heard communicating.

“Fourth shoe doesn’t match the others.”

But as the search and rescue operation continued well into Sunday evening, officials grimly moved toward a recovery effort.

“Command, we’re going to terminate rescue efforts. This is now a recovery,” a rescuer said.

Reyes, a friend of Guerra, said the families of the victims are now desperately trying to raise money to transport their loved ones’ bodies back to Honduras.

“It’s devastating. Now we’re trying to figure out how we’re going to raise money to transports the victims back home,” Reyes said.

“You know in this country, in order to transport a body to our country it’s a large sum.”

The group were pictured in this harrowing photo, believed to have been taken just before the tragedy

The friends and relatives were fishing in the lake, enjoying a summer evening

Reyes said Vargas, the fifth victim, was close to Dias and both worked together.

Vargas’ distraught mother broke her silence on Wednesday, revealing her son died days before her birthday on July 22.

Ana Vargas told Univision News her son planned to join the US Navy and become a firefighter.

Jonathan Gabriel Vargas was born in Maryland, but grew up in El Salvador before reuniting with his mother and sister in 2021.

The five victims were seen fishing in waist-deep water in the river moments before disaster struck.

Marcus Martin took the haunting photo and told the outlet he wished he could have warned them about the dangerous water conditions.

Authorities have not determined which of the five victims was the first to jump in the water.

The dangerous conditions in the river involve strong undercurrents, uneven and shifting depths, and hidden underwater debris, Forest Clevenger, the executive director of Ohio River Way, told NBC affiliate WKYC.

Guerra and Ferrera left behind a 7-year-old son.

Meanwhile, Dias and Regaldo left behind a 6-year-old daughter.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/16740879/childrens-plea-parents-drown-scioto-river-ohio/