A young man has drowned after heroically diving into a river to save his girlfriend's three-year-old son who had fallen into the water.
Joshua Traylor
Joshua Traylor, a 24-year-old man has drowned after heroically diving into a river to save his girlfriend's three-year-old son who had fallen into the water.
According to
Daily Mail UK, Joshua Traylor, 24, was feeding nearby ducks with his girlfriend and her young son on a boardwalk near the Clinton River in Mount Clemens, Michigan, when the boy slipped and fell in.
Traylor - despite being unable to swim - immediately threw himself into the river shortly before 5pm on Sunday, as a nearby fisherman also dived into the water and was able to get the toddler back to safety.
Joshua Traylor and his girlfriend
However, things took a tragic turn when the 24-year-old did not reappear from under the water.
Traylor's girlfriend then jumped into the water to try to find her boyfriend, but was unable to do so, the Detroit Free Press reports.
Disturbing video of a rescue team searching for Traylor was broadcast on Facebook Live.
It shows a large crowd of people gathered around the riverbank, as a team of police officers and other responders working desperately to find the 24-year-old.
Joshua Traylor and the drowned baby
It took 45 minutes for officers to find his body under the boardwalk.
'We were able to locate the body using our underwater camera and a Shelby Township diver went in and was able to locate him and bring him to shore,' Harrison
Township Fire Battalion Chief Mark Hoskin told the Macomb Daily.
The scene of the tragic incident
Traylor's heartbroken girlfriend shared an emotional farewell message to the 24-year-old on Facebook.
'I love you so much baby... you saved our baby I know you loved him like he was your own,' it read.
'You saved him he is still here on this earth because of you.
'You're truly my hero, I can't take this, it is not fair.'
Other family members and friends also mourned Traylor on social media, including his older brother, who wrote: 'Bro did what pops (sic) taught us, to be a protector. I'm going to miss my little bro EVERYDAY but he had to do what he had to do.'