Tragedy struck Canyon Lake as law enforcement and dive teams combed the waters for Roiner Alejandro Rojas Pereira, a 19-year-old who vanished beneath the surface Sunday evening. According to KENS5, the search party was dispatched around 7 p.m. to Canyon Lake near Overlook Park after the teen, who was enjoying the water on a tube, drifted towards the dam's intake and got separated from his flotation device.

Witnesses say Pereira began to struggle and swiftly went underwater. Abraham Palencia, a friend of Pereira, recounted the harrowing moment. "I don't know if he fell off the tube or he got out of the tube, but he couldn't swim no more," Palencia told KENS5. "And he was screaming for help, and that's when we went in, try to help him out. But we couldn't make it."

Pereira, a recent Venezuelan immigrant to San Antonio, worked at Maaco prepping cars for painting. Described as hardworking, he and his brother hoped to support their family back home through their endeavors in the States. "He was a friend of mine," Palencia said in a statement obtained by KENS5. "Obviously it hurts. It hurts a lot, because we see people like that. I see him every day and it's tough to lose someone."

Family friend Ana Palencia revealed that Pereira did not know to swim when recounting to KSAT about the incident, "Obviously it hurts. It hurts a lot, because we see people like that. I see him every day and it's tough to lose someone." Efforts by family and friends to rescue him were futile; Pereira disappeared under the water once again just as his rescuers neared him.

The joint search task force, including Texas Parks and Wildlife Game Wardens, Hays SMART Dive Team, and Comal County deputies, has persisted in their efforts since the occurrence. Though frequented by park-goers, Overlook Park, the area of the incident, is not a designated swimming area and lacks lifeguard services, a fact emphasized by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in a statement to KSAT. As of now, Pereira remains missing, and the search continues.