A Maine man died last week after saving two of his children from a rip current while his family was vacationing in Florida.
NBC10 Boston affiliate News Center Maine, citing the Juno Beach Police Department, reports Ryan Jennings died on April 1.
According to the Bangor Daily News, the 46-year-old North Yarmouth man was swimming around 3:25 p.m. Wednesday with his wife and children at Juno Beach in an area not overseen by lifeguards when Jennings, his 12-year-old son and one of his daughters were pulled away in the current. Jennings reportedly threw his son toward shore, moving him out of the current, and then lifted his 9-year-old daughter above the water, over his head, until she could be rescued. Both children survived, but Jennings died.
An online fundraiser created to support the Jennings family in the aftermath of this tragedy had raised more than $157,000 as of Sunday night. The organizer described Ryan as his wife Emily’s soulmate, and a loving father and friend to many whose heroic actions are a testament to the kind of person he was. His loss leaves a tremendous void, Geraldine Ollilia wrote, and his widow is now faced with the challenger of caring for her three children and rebuilding her life.
News Center Maine reports the couple had recently learned they were expecting their fourth child, according to a Facebook post from a friend of Jennings.
Further details were not immediately available.