Volunteers Braving Harvey Floodwaters Rescued 7 Before Being Swept Away

HOUSTON, TX — Five volunteers braved the Houston floodwaters, bringing people to safety and as they went out a third time to rescue more victims their boat started to move towards a power line and those onboard jumped out. Two of the men were later confirmed dead and two are missing.

The volunteers had already taken two trips and on their third trip, they were joined by two journalists for The Daily Mail who survived the incident and later gave detailed accounts of what happened to the Mail. The two journalists and one of the volunteers held on for dear life after losing control of the boat they were riding in on Houston's Greens Bayou, fighting off torrential flood waters.

According to an account from the two journalists, Allan Butterfield and Ruaridh Connellan, published on The Daily Mail's website, the pair, who were covering the ongoing situation in Houston, saw a group of men with a boat that had an attached dinghy who said they were going to rescue an elderly relative in a wheelchair and one of her neighbors. The journalists joined the five volunteers on the boat. Butterfield said that the current was carrying the boat toward a power line, so all seven occupants on the boat jumped out.

"I couldn’t see anyone else as everyone had jumped into the water. I was desperately trying to swim away from the power lines in the water. I felt electricity in the water, it paralyzes you for a second. How we survived electrocution, I don’t know," Butterfield said. (For more hurricane news or local news from Houston, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Houston Patch, and click here to find your local Texas Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Butterfield, along with Connellan and another man, grabbed onto a tree and hung on until they were rescued about 18 hours later. According to The Daily Mail, the accident happened about 10 minutes after the motorboat left around 3 p.m. Monday, and the three men were rescued around 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday.

While the three men were rescued, two others on the rescue mission lost their lives and two others are missing. The five men the journalists joined were three brothers and two friends, The Washington Post reported. According to the post, in two trips, the men brought seven people to safety and went out a third time.

“Everybody told them to stay, that they had already done their part,” Stepheny Jacquez, 25, a family member, told the Post. “But they said, ‘No, we have to go back, there’s a lot of people in danger.'"

According to the Post, two of the men were killed, and two others are missing. Jacquez identified the men as Yahir Vizueth, 25, and Jorge Perez, 31. The missing were identified as Benjamin Vizueth, 31, and Gustavo Rodriquez-Hernandez, 40. The fifth man, Jose Vizueth, 30, was rescued and taken to the hospital.

"I was telling Jose and Ruaridh that we needed to grab onto a tree as we passed," Butterfield told the Mail. "We managed to direct the dinghy towards a tree and cling on. Jose got himself to the top of the tree. It took me longer as I had dislocated my shoulder. I wasn’t aware at the time as I had kicked into survival mode. I don’t know how I did it. I managed to get up the tree and I straddled the trunk of the tree."

The boat crashed into power lines and was crackling and smoking.

The men could see helicopters circling overhead, and one stopped about 100 yards away and was dropping ropes, but their cries for help went unanswered, owing to the strong rain and winds. They were ultimately rescued by the Texas Department of Public Safety in a powerboat.

"And the list of fallen heroes grows," Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo tweeted along with a link paying tribute to the four men who lost their lives. "May they rest in eternal piece."

Benjamin Vizueth posted regularly to his Facebook page, including several Facebook live videos. The last video Vizueth posted showed the seven men on the boat riding on Greens Bayou.

>>>See the full Daily Mail account here.

>>>See the full Washington Post report here.

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