18-Year-Old 'Hero' Dies While Trying to Save Passengers From Car Crash

Three teenagers are dead and one 6-year-old boy is missing after a car crashed into the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal Sunday morning leaving a 16-year-old girl as the sole survivor of the incident, Delaware police said.

According to a release from the Delaware State Police, around 9:40 a.m. on Sunday, a Chevy HHR crashed into the water on the south side of the Canal, about 1 mile west of the William V. Roth Jr. Bridge, with the vehicle becoming completely submerged in the water.

According to the 16-year-old survivor, the 18-year-old driver of the vehicle helped her get to safety, then jumped back into the canal to try and rescue the three other boys still inside. Unfortunately, the 18-year-old was unsuccessful and first responders found his body nearby. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

CNN reports that the 18-year-old was driving his two younger brothers, his girlfriend, and a cousin to a youth football game when their vehicle went into the canal.

Master Cpl. Michael Austin of the Delaware State Police said Sunday that the 18-year-old was a "hero."

"He tried to do everything he could to help the remaining passengers in that vehicle," Austin said.

Search and recovery operations continued through the day with police and recovery vehicles lining the road that runs along the canal. At around 5 p.m. Sunday afternoon, the vehicle was removed from the water where police discovered the bodies two other passengers, a 16-year-old and 12-year-old boy who were declared deceased at the scene. An additional 6-year-old passenger is still missing and has not been accounted for yet, police said. All four males were related, with three of the victims from Wilmington, while the other was from Newark.

The surviving 16-year-old girl was an acquaintance of the boys, who was from New Castle.

"My thoughts and prayers go out to a family whose lives were changed forever today," Austin said. 

Police are still investigating why the vehicle went off the road. The canal was closed to commercial traffic while police continued to investigate the incident.