Filipino dad drowns trying to save his son in Canada lake

Arnulf Salazar died on Saturday, July 17 while trying to save one of his sons from drowning at Chehalis Lake. GoFundMe

A Filipino father is dead after drowning at a campsite on Chehalis Lake, located off a remote forest service road outside of Harrison Mills in the Fraser Valley, British Columbia.

Arnulf Salazar, 53, drowned while trying to save his son, who has nonverbal autism, at 1:45 p.m. on July 17.

According to one of Salazar’s sons, their family was enjoying a picnic at the lake when his father saw  his brother drowning in the lake.

Salazar swam out to save his child and after reaching him ended up getting into trouble in the water himself, according to a report by Vancouver Is Awesome.

A man named Nick McCleary  heard the family calling for help, so he started swimming out to the two. Salazar passed the boy to McCleary who brought the boy to shore.

McCleary said he was so out of breath that he was sure he would drown if he went back out to attempt to save Salazar as well.

A group of campers then teamed up and dove down and retrieved Salazar, and his family performed chest compressions on him until first responders arrived, roughly an hour later. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.

Arnulf Salazar is survived by his wife and four children, two of which have autism.

A GoFundMe campaign has been started by the family and has raised  over $17,000 in a $20,000 goal.