Swimmer who tried to save drowning man at Blanchisseuse: 'I'm no hero'

A Petit Valley man who tried unsuccessfully to save the life of a San Juan man on Sunday says he is no hero, though he tried his best.

Police reported that Kareem Grant went missing on Sunday after he got into difficulties while bathing at Damien Bay, Blanchisseuse. His body has not been recovered and fishermen and Coast Guard are still searching for his body.

Police reported that at around 2 pm Grant, 24, from Seventh Street, San Juan, was in waist-high water when it became rough and he called out for help as he began drifting.

Matthew Pascal tried to rescue him but he too got into difficulties when Grant kept pushing him underwater. Grant eventually disappeared under the choppy waters.

Speaking with Newsday on Monday, Pascal said he did all he could to save Grant, who was "frantic." Pascal said he was on the shore when a relative told him that his brother was in difficulty.

“I immediately ran into the water looking for my brother. My brother saw the drowning man and tried to help him, but he (Grant) was struggling so much that he was pushing him down into the water – basically drowning my brother as well. because he was so frantic. Eventually my brother got loose of him.”

Pascal said by then he was already in the water, saw Grant and being a strong swimmer, tried to help.

“I told my brother, ‘Go back in,’ and then I was holding on to (Grant) and he was doing the same thing to me. He was struggling so much, he pushed me down into the water. I was struggling to breathe.

“I came back up and I told him to lie down on his back so I can hold on to his chest and we can both lay down and see if we can kick back in the shore.

"But he did not want to listen, he was too panicked. He was just grabbing on to me and pushing me down.”

The 35-year-old said after failed attempts to rescue Grant he let go of him and stayed close, trying to calm him down so they could both make it back to shore.

He said at that point he was fearful for his life.

“All this time the current is pulling us across the bay and the waves are breaking on us as well.

"I am a strong swimmer, and I stuck with him. If I could not help him out physically, I was going to help him mentally."But the situation deteriorated.

"He was going down and struggling to come back up, and the period of him going down was getting longer and longer. He was not doing well at all.”

Pascal said the current pulled them from one end of the bay to the other, which was rocky, and waves were breaking there as well. As the current pulled them closer to that point, he made a hard choice and left Grant and swam back to shore, because the rocks and waves would have been too much for him.

He said the ordeal lasted about 15 minutes.

“I am not over it. I am still shaken up about it. I saw the man basically drowned in front of my eyes and I could not do much to save him because he would not listen.

"His last words were, ‘Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!’ as if his father could have come from the heavens to save him.”

Pascal said while he was trying to rescue Grant, his wife called a fisherman friend of the family for assistance, but by that time he had already left the water and there was nothing anyone could have done.

After coming out of the water he spoke with Grant’s relatives, who were on the shore looking on, and told them he did his best.

Pascal told Newsday he does not see himself as a hero, adding that if he had saved Grant, then he would have accepted the title.