A New York family is asking for help locating a man who is believed to have drowned while kayaking with his fiancée Friday, according to a news release.
Travis Valenti, 37, disappeared after his kayak filled with water during a vacation at Olympic National Park in Washington, News12 reported. He’d proposed to his girlfriend two days prior. Valenti had to leave his kayak and enter the water despite his attempts to keep paddling, the National Park Service (NPS) wrote in a press release.
A man died after his kayak began taking on water in Washington state’s Olympic National Park, park officials say. https://t.co/kRhWJ28sqK
— NBC News (@NBCNews) June 14, 2023
His fiancée attempted to save him, but her own kayak started to fill with water, according to the press release. She managed to swim to shore, but Valenti was allegedly unable to save himself. Neither individual was wearing a life jacket, according to the NPS. (RELATED: Four Children Lost After Plane Crash Found Alive After 40 Days In Colombian Jungle)
“Travis get her the extra little push that she needed to get safe, and they still haven’t found him since Friday at 2 or 3 p.m.,” Travis’ brother, Austin Valenti, told News12.
To aid in search and recovery operations to bring Valenti’s body back home, the Valenti family established a GoFundMe page. “Unfortunately, park rangers searched but don’t have a dive team to search further,” the page reads. “The family is obviously distraught & want their son’s body back in NY.”
“He can light up a room and make anybody laugh,” Austin told News12. “He was just everybody’s favorite guy, including Marlene’s and all of ours, they were just a beautiful couple, and they had this beautiful life planned out and it just gets cut so short out of nowhere.”
The NPS advised boaters in the area to wear a life jacket and encouraged swimmers to use a “buddy system.”
“Lake Crescent is a deep and very cold body of water with surface water temperatures near 50-degrees this time of year,” the press release reads. “Sudden immersion into cold water will impact a person’s breathing and over time, their ability to move extremities.”