A father from Methuen, Massachusetts, died Wednesday while trying to rescue one of his children from rough surf at the beach in Salisbury, officials said Thursday.
The family was swimming at Salisbury Beach when heavy surf began to overwhelm one of the children. The victim, identified by the Essex County District Attorney's office as 44-year-old Gary Simard, rushed into the water to help, along with two bystanders quickly jumped in the water to help them.
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The bystanders were able to pull the child from the water, but could not find Simard to help him back to shore. The DA says first responders found Simard in the water and began life-saving measures, but he died at the hospital.
"He died a hero saving his son from the riptide," Simard's sister, Kelly Simard, told NBC10 Boston. "He went in to save him and he sacrificed his life for his son."
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As the family mourns the loss, that sacrifice looms large.
"We feel terrible that we lost him, but it makes us feel better that we know he died for his son," Kelly Simard said.
Jason Evan Iarossi, one of the bystanders who tried to help, spoke with NBC10 Boston in the aftermath on Wednesday.
"I'm like, 'This can't be happening. This is not a joke. The father went in,'" he recalled. "The boy started calling to his father. It happened so quickly, you couldn't even..."
Iarossi said he saw the family in distress from about 30 yards up the beach. He and a 37-year-old man jumped in to save them.
"We swam out to the kid. We were over our heads and it was too much. It was too much," he said.
Iarossi said the waves were about four to six feet high and the water has been rough ever since Hurricane Lee passed through.
"I don't think anyone belongs in the water," he said.
Simard and the 37-year-old rescuer were taken to an area hospital.
"The father was calling to me," Iarossi said. "It was the father, me and the boy. He was calling me and I made a decision, or at least I think I did."
"I have to live with that. I have to live with that."
"We know that he would want us to remain strong for the kids. What they witnessed was traumatic yesterday, so we just want them to know, we have to remember their dad as the person that he was and not the incident that happened yesterday."
