The Times West Virginian

Local News

September 4, 2008

Local friends help drowning victims’ family

Arrangements made to hold funerals in Mexico

By Bill Byrd

FAIRMONT — Two brothers drowned in a dangerous undertow in the Tygart Valley River on Tuesday afternoon at Valley Falls State Park when the younger brother tried to save his older brother, police said.

Victor Rubio, 26, jumped into the river at the second set of falls in the park to try and save his older brother, Luis Alberto Rubio, 29, police said.

Both Mexican citizens, the brothers spoke broken English, said Detective Shawn Mathews of the Marion sheriff’s department.

Police don’t know if they understood the many warning signs — in English — posted on the path to the falls, he said. They warn of hazardous currents and ban swimming or wading.

Luis, the older brother, fell into the river while the pair were going from rock to rock at the top of the second set of falls, Mathews said. “Victor then jumped in after him,” he said.

But both were dragged underwater and underneath the falls by a powerful undertow, he said.

Using their knowledge of the undertow and the river bottom, divers with the Marion County Water Rescue Team found Luis’ body within about a half-hour or shortly before 5 p.m. The first alarm was called in at 4:21 p.m., a dispatcher at the county’s 911 center said. Paramedics and emergency medical technicians then worked non-stop on Luis for more than a half-hour, trying to revive him.

The divers recovered Victor’s body around 5:30 p.m.

Luis and his wife, Mariela Janeth Rubio, 23, and their son, Brian Rubio, 2, had moved to the area about three weeks ago, Mathews said.

Luis had been working near Yakima, Wash.; Victor, his younger brother, had been working for the past three years at a Mexican restaurant in White Hall. Both men had work visas, Mathews said.

They were sightseeing at the park, taking pictures of the baby “to send back to their family in Mexico,” he said.

He said local friends of the brothers are rallying to help Mrs. Rubio and her son. Arrangements have been made to take the brothers back to their family’s home in Mexico for funerals there, Mathews said. She called her husband’s mother and her own mother Tuesday night.

“She lost her husband and brother-in-law in minutes,” he said.

Xavier Garcia, a Spanish teacher at East Fairmont High School, was called by police and rescuers to come and talk to Mrs. Rubio at the scene.

“His assistance was invaluable,” Mathews said.

A co-worker of Victor’s at the Mi Pueblo Restaurant in the Middletown Mall said he was “very responsible.”

“He was happy because he was going home next month to Mexico to see his family,” the co-worker said.

E-mail Bill Byrd at bbyrd@timeswv.com.

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