Authorities in South Carolina said that two teenagers who had been dared to jump into a lake over the weekend were discovered dead from what seemed to be drownings.
Rayan Al-Nasser, 16, and Zakaria Chaar, 15, were discovered late on Monday morning in 15 feet of water and roughly eight feet apart, according to the Pickens County Coroner’s Office. Ten minutes later, Al-Nasser was discovered, followed by Chaar at 10:20 a.m.
Pickens County Sheriff’s Capt. Brett Barwick reports that at 10:28 p.m. on Saturday, a caller reported that three teenagers had plunged into Lake Hartwell, with two of them still unaccounted for.
One of the teenagers had already been plucked from the lake by a boater before cops arrived. On Sunday and Monday, search parties investigated the region.
Authorities surmise that the teenagers were persuaded to leap into the water from a bridge
According to Barwick, the teenagers were probably dared to jump into the lake as a challenge. WHNS said that they were talking in a group chat about the difficulty of jumping off the bridge and swimming back to land.
“Quite a few” more pupils might have taken the challenge as well, but they weren’t hurt, according to the official.
One of the gang “immediately went into distress,” according to authorities, following their jump into the lake, as reported by Fox Carolina. He was rescued by another adolescent, but they never surfaced from the water. After dispatching police, the hunt got underway.
At Lake Hartwell, signs on the bridges caution against jumping from into the water. The lake search around the Pike Road and Highway 133 region was aided by emergency management teams from Pickens, Anderson, Oconee, and Greenville counties, as well as the Clemson University Emergency Management and Fire/EMS departments.
According to Barwick, it was difficult for the rescue workers to find the victims because of the poor visibility in the water.
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The high school sends their loved ones condolences
Chaar and Al-Nasser attended Central’s D.W. Daniel High School.
A Pickens County School District representative said in a news release, “The School District of Pickens County (SDPC) is heartbroken to learn of the passing of two students from D.W. Daniel High School.”
“Our deepest condolences and prayers go out to the families, friends, and the entire D.W. Daniel High School community. The loss of these young lives is a profound tragedy, impacting not only their families but also their classmates, teachers, and the broader community. In times like this, our priority is to provide the necessary support and care to our students, staff, and families”.
Al-Nasser participated in high school soccer.
Thomas Bonilla, Al-Nasser’s coach, asked everyone to pray for his family during this trying time in a poignant Facebook post.
“I feel blessed God allowed me to hug him and tell him how I proud I was of him one last time,” Bonilla said. “I can’t imagine the world of pain his parents are going through right now but I wanted to make this post so those who were following the news are aware and 2. for those who pray to keep him in your prayers and his family. I would give up every trophy and even my life for him to be back with his family.”
