Dad Drowns Trying to Save 2 Daughters in Maine Pond: He ‘Heard Their Cries for Help’ and 'Jumped’
Henry Brooks, 46, died while trying to rescue his 12- and 13-year-old daughters
A father who jumped into a pond to rescue his two daughters drowned on Saturday, according to the Maine Warden Service.
Henry Brooks, 46, of Hope, Maine, was on a family outing at Seven Tree Pond in Union watching his 12- and 13-year-old daughters swimming when one of his daughters slipped into the water where the pond meets the river, NBC News reported. When the other daughter went after her, she also fell in and the water carried both girls to a deeper section of the pond.
"Brooks, who was sitting at a picnic table watching his daughters, saw what occurred and heard their cries for help, and jumped into the water to rescue them," officials said, according to CBS News.
After a 4:30 p.m. 911 call on July 8, Union Fire and Ambulance staff arrived at the pond with their fire department boat, the Penobscot Bay Pilot reported. They spent over an hour looking for Brooks in the area where witnesses said he had disappeared. Three is the maximum number of people that can go in the rescue boats.
“We don’t want to capsize and become victims ourselves,” Union Ambulance Director Jesse Thompson said, per the outlet.
“When it comes to needing to close the park, we’ll close the park down,” Justin Fowlie, Sergeant in the Maine Warden Service, added.
Related: 7-Year-Old Saved from Drowning by 2 Young Boys, 12 and 8, in Michigan: ‘They’re My Heroes'
As divers were coming from Damariscotta and Union Fire was searching the pond, several sheriff’s deputies followed a side trail and discovered the survivors, the outlet said. The deputy who went to the trail then guided the ambulance staff to that spot.
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Brooks remained missing despite the search efforts of various authorities on land and water, per the CBS News. His body was found by three warden service divers around 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, 50 feet away from the shore near the dock. Later, his body was taken to a funeral home in Waldoboro, while his children spent the night at a medical center in Rockport for monitoring.
Due to the high rainfall in Maine last month — one of the wettest Junes in over 25 years, according to Bangor Daily News, officials warn that swimming in rivers and lakes could be dangerous.
“This year, with all the rain, areas where there’s currents sometimes can be a little more treacherous than they would be during a normal summer, or a dry summer,” Mark Latti, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife said, per the outlet. “People should be taking extra caution during high water, because it is a little bit different.”
He added: “It’s always very difficult, but sadly it happens nearly every year.”
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