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Mexican national drowns in river

By Gerard MacCrossan
The Daily Times

Published August 2, 2006

A 22-year-old Mexican national drowned in the Guadalupe River east of Brinks Crossing on Monday afternoon.

Game Warden Mark Chapa of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said Tuesday that Victor Alfonso Garcia Guia reportedly was walking along the river bank from Hill River Estates in Center Point toward Brinks Crossing on Center Point-River Road when he began having difficulty.

Two men were walking with Guia; one of them told authorities that Guia waded out too far and went under.

“He thrashed a little bit and didn’t come up,” Chapa said the man reported.

Neither of Guia’s companions could swim, so they alerted two other men nearby who pulled Guia from the river and tried to revive him, Chapa said. When he arrived at the scene, Kerrville EMS was attempting to resuscitate Guia. These efforts were unsuccessful; Pct. 4 Justice of the Peace Bill Ragsdale pronounced Guia dead at Sid Peterson Memorial
Hospital.

Chapa estimated the river was about 8 feet deep in the channel down river from Brinks Crossing where the drowning occurred. He said that Guia reportedly was under water for about two or three minutes.

Guia, who was said to have worked as a stucco installer, and both men with him are believed to be undocumented immigrants, Chapa said. The victim is survived by his father and brother in Kerrville; the rest of his family is in Mexico.