A chilling photograph may show five adults fishing together in an Ohio river shortly before all of them were swept away and drowned, leaving two young children without their parents.
Baptist pastor Marcus L. Martin was boating with his family near the Scioto River in Powell on Sunday when he noticed five adults standing waist-deep in the water.
The group matched the description of the five people who later drowned in the same area.
Martin said he briefly considered warning them about the dangers of the river but ultimately chose not to. He has struggled with that decision ever since.
“I just remember being taught that area was kind of dangerous, in the sense of there being steep slopes,” Martin told The Associated Press.
When Martin returned to the area roughly two hours later, he felt compelled to take a photograph.
“I believe the picture I took may have been the last picture of them alive,” he said.
The image appears to show the five adults standing about thigh-deep in the river while holding fishing poles and gathering near a large log.
It remains unclear whether they returned to shore after the photo was taken.
The tragedy claimed the lives of José Mario Pineda Díaz, 33, and Marina Suyapa Regalado, 28, a Honduran couple who were parents to two children.
Their children, ages 8 and 10, were also at the river but survived, according to Honduran authorities.
Another married couple, Miguel Ángel Guerra and Carmen Idalia Lara Ferrera, both 33, also died. A fifth victim had not yet been publicly identified.
Delaware County Sheriff Jeffrey Balzer said one of the adults began struggling in the water, prompting several others to go in and try to help.
All five adults were then swept under.
The bodies of the two women were recovered Sunday. Search crews found the three men on Monday.
Conditions in the river were especially dangerous that day. Data from a U.S. Geological Survey gauge at a nearby dam showed the water was flowing at about 350 cubic feet per second, more than twice its average rate.
As the adults were drowning, one of the surviving children reportedly ran from the riverbank in panic.
A passing driver who called 911 said the boy was wrapped only in a towel and crying out for his mother.
“He was screaming, ‘Mama! Mama!’ as he came toward the road, and he was crying,” the driver said.
The witness feared the distraught child might run into the multilane road along the river.
Honduran officials later confirmed that four of the five adults were citizens of Honduras.
Flabia Zamora, director of consular affairs for the Honduran Foreign Ministry, said officials were working with U.S. authorities to return the victims’ bodies to Honduras.
The process could take at least a month once all five victims are officially identified.
Zamora said the surviving children were in the care of Ohio authorities while plans were being made to reunite them with relatives in Honduras.
A relative, Brenda Raya, launched a GoFundMe campaign to help cover funeral costs, transportation expenses and care for the children.
Martin, meanwhile, said he continues to lose sleep over whether a warning from him might have changed what happened.
The haunting photograph now serves as a painful reminder of an ordinary family outing that ended in unimaginable tragedy.
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