(Aug. 4) -- In an instant, DeKendrix Warner went from wading in a few feet of water to struggling for his life after the bottom of the Louisiana's Red River suddenly dropped off nearly 30 feet.
"It felt like the ground fell and the water was pulling me under," DeKendrix told The Times of Shreveport. "I started yelling for help, and every time my foot touched the ground I'd fall again. The bottom of the river was falling."
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| Douglas Collier, The Shreveport Times |
DeKendrix Warner, 15, collapses among family after authorities arrived at Charles and Marie Hamel Memorial Park on Monday.
As DeKendrix, 15, kicked and flailed Monday evening, six other teenagers in the group tried to save him, and one by one, they drowned. Nobody in the large group knew how to swim.
A life jacket was tossed out to the group but nobody could reach it.
"They were trying to save me and went under," DeKendrix told the paper.
Christopher Patlan heard the group screaming, jumped in and pulled DeKendrix to safety. By then, it was too late to save the others, he said.
"Everything happened so fast. It was like a wreck," Patlan told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The six children slipped away as their mothers and other adults looked on.
"It's hard when you can't save your kids," Maude Warner, who lost three children, told Shreveport's KTBS TV. "It's hard when you just see your kids just drowning and you can't save them."
The victims, ages 13 to 18, from Monday's drownings came from two families. Three of Warner's six children perished, her 13-year-old daughter, Takeitha, and sons JaMarcus, 14, and JaTavious, 17. Three brothers from the Stewart family died, Litrelle, 18; LaDairus, 17; and Latevin, 15.
The group had gathered to cool off in the river and barbecue on a hot summer afternoon. The area is near a public park but is not a designated swimming area and there was no lifeguard.
Fire officials said the river floor is unstable, and that the children entered an unfamiliar area where the river bottom dropped 20 to 28 feet. The six bodies were recovered from the muddy river floor after divers spent more than three hours searching for them.
Nishikia Warner, 15, spoke to The Times about her sister and brothers, and said she'll miss the football games they used to play.
Sitting on the front porch of her Shreveport home, she talked about how JaTavius took care of his younger siblings when they were home alone. He liked to cook and enjoyed a good prank, too, she said.
"He put ketchup in my ear when I was asleep," she told the paper.
Relatives and friends offered condolences Tuesday, hugging each other and holding a prayer vigil in their Shreveport neighborhood. Among them was the Rev. Emmitt Welch, who knew all six victims through his work as a Baptist youth minister.
"These are some of the greatest kids in the world," Welch said, according to AP. "I mean when you think about the ideal children, these kids are wonderful."
