April 9, 2015: Divers emerge from the water in Los Angeles Harbor after two children pulled from submerged vehicle. (AP Photo/The Daily Breeze, Steve McCrank)
A family’s night of fun ended in tragedy when their car plunged into Los Angeles Harbor, killing a boy, 13, and leaving his 8-year-old brother fighting for his life Friday.
The boys weren’t breathing when rescuers pulled them from their submerged vehicle Thursday evening. The car left a parking lot at the Ports O’Call entertainment area in San Pedro and landed upside-down in about 30 feet of water.
The boys’ mother and father swam to the surface. Divers found the children inside the vehicle, police said.
The teen died at a local hospital. The younger boy was in critical condition. The parents were hospitalized in fair condition, but “clearly emotionally distraught,” San Pedro Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey said.
“It is being treated as an accident until determined otherwise,” San Pedro Police Officer Norma Eisenman said.
One witness said the man swam quickly to a ladder out of the water, and the woman was screaming as she came up.
"I thought she was drowning," witness Frank Palazzolo told the Daily Breeze newspaper. "She was going crazy. She was screaming, `My kids, my kids,' screaming real loud."
Divers working in murky water searched the car and even opened the trunk, but they found no one else in it, Humphrey said.
Nearly 100 firefighters, divers and helicopter and boat crews responded after the car went into the water.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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