Body of hero soldier recovered off Puerto Rican coastline after he jumped into the sea to save a drowning victim

Puerto Rican authorities have finally recovered the body of Fidel Cruz Llanos, a 34-year-old National Guardsman who disappeared last Sunday after jumping into the sea in a daring attempt to rescue a tourist.

The director of the San Juan Municipal Emergency Management Office (OMME), Carlos Acevedo, said that Cruz Llanos was walking with his two children when he heard the cries for help from the tourist, identified as Charles Víctor Daniel Poor, 20 years old.

Bystanders reported that Cruz Llanos was last seen approximately 80 yards offshore, sinking, unable to surface.

When rescuers responded to the emergency, they found the body of Daniel, a resident of Moline, Illinois, who had been swept away by ocean currents in Ventana del Mar, behind the La Concha hotel, in Condado.

The victim was rushed to Ashford Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Acevedo stated that the incident occurred after 6:00 p.m., the time when the lifeguard's shift assigned to the beach ends.

According to preliminary information, the soldier's children said that their father saw the person drowning, took off a chain and handed it to him, crossed himself and jumped into the sea.

Cruz Llanos was a sergeant in the Puerto Rican National Guard, where he served his country for 10 years. The heroic soldier was assigned to Food Services Unit 295.