 For the second time this year, Faron Hall saved a somebody from drowining in the Red River. (Sun Media file photo)
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A homeless man who jumped into the Red River to save a drowning teen last May was involved in another dramatic water rescue yesterday afternoon.
Faron Hall, hailed as a hero earlier this year, pulled a woman from the Red River yesterday but was unable to save a man who drowned while trying to rescue her.
Emergency crews were called to the Norwood Bridge about 1 p.m.
Witnesses say five friends were drinking near the river when a woman named Tara-Lynn Beardy tripped and stumbled into the river. Unable to swim, she struggled to get out of the water and a friend jumped in to save her. The man couldn't swim either.
According to a friend of the group who arrived on the scene shortly after, the man dove into the river on instinct when he saw Beardy fall in.
"He was trying to be a hero himself," said a man who goes by the street name Zone. "He was trying to help out a friend and it cost him his life."
Hall jumped in and pulled Beardy out of the water. Hall went back into the river to retrieve the man, diving deep under the surface, but was unable to save the 28-year-old.
Visibly upset
"He pulled out the girl and went back in for the guy," said Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service district chief Bryan McNamara. "It's becoming a habit with him, but he was pretty upset at not being able to get the man out."
The police dive team recovered the man's body late yesterday afternoon near the bridge where the rescue attempt took place.
Hall was visibly upset on the riverbank while crews searched for his friend.
"I tried. I tried to save both of them, but I couldn't," said Hall, whose words were picked up by a CTV camera. "I couldn't save both of them."
Hall, in his mid-40s, received all kinds of accolades -- including a Mayor's Award of Valour -- for rescuing a teen who fell from the Provencher Bridge into the Red River on May 3.
Mayor Sam Katz was nearly speechless when he heard about yesterday's events.
"To save one person in your lifetime would be a remarkable thing to do," the mayor said. "To do it twice within the period of a few months, that's just ... what can you say?"
adam.wazny@sunmedia.ca
