AUSTIN — The man who never resurfaced after trying to save a drowning woman in Lake Travis has been identified.
The body of Austinite Diego Humberto Cerda-Acosta, 30, was found near Bob Wentz Park Monday morning, a day after authorities began searching for the man who went missing while trying to rescue a woman drowning in Lake Travis Sunday.
According to Travis County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Kristen Dark, Cerda-Acosta was the same person who went missing while trying to save the drowning woman.
A woman believed to be in her 30s was swimming near Bob Wentz Park about 6:20 p.m. Sunday when she began having trouble, Dark told KVUE.
Three men jumped into the water to help rescue the woman. Two of those men brought the woman back to the shore, but the third man, Cerda-Acosta, did not make it out of the water, Dark said.
A helicopter and sonar boats helped search for the man Sunday evening, but the search was eventually called off due to a lack of sunlight and low visibility.
Adrian Garza, a Houston man visiting the park, was one of the men who helped rescue the drowning woman. He told KVUE Cerda-Acosta deserves recognition.
"I'm just a normal person trying to do something good. And I wouldn't say that I'm a hero. And if you were to call me a hero, I believe there was another hero right next to me, and eventually, the one that was in the water. He is a hero," he said.
Garza said his own safety never crossed his mind when he jumped into the water.
"What if it happened to my family? What if it was one of mine? And if I wasn't around, I would have loved for somebody else to [have taken] action and to [have] helped to save this lady's life," he said.
Austin-Travis County EMS transported the woman who was rescued from the water to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Dark did not have an update on her condition Sunday night.
This is the third swimmer to disappear at Lake Travis this month alone. The first was on May 5 and the second on May 19. Officials said all three swimmers were not wearing life jackets.