A triathlete with thousands of followers drowned during the Ironman competition in Texas on Saturday during the swimming endurance challenge.
Mara Flávia, who boasted over 60,000 followers on Instagram, disappeared during the open-water swim in Lake Woodlands, “the first of three grueling trials competitors face during the 140-mile race,” per the New York Post.
Frantic calls started pouring in to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and the Woodlands Township Fire Department as early as 6 a.m., Fox 26 reported. Woodlands Fire Chief Palmer Buck told Click2Houston that crews were first notified about the “lost swimmer” around 7:30 a.m.
Rescuers sifted through the lake while the triathlon was still ongoing, which Buck said contributed to the challenging conditions and worsened the dive team’s “zero” visibility.
Flávia was eventually pulled out of the water just after 9:30 a.m., roughly three hours after she disappeared. By then, her body had sunk down 10 feet to the bottom of the lake, Buck said.
Flávia was pronounced dead on the scene, and Montgomery Sheriff’s Office confirmed that she “drowned while participating in the swim portion of the event,” though its Major Crimes unit will investigate potential foul play “per normal protocols.”
One Ironman volunteer recalled feeling “panic and fear” upon seeing Flávia go underwater, noting that one racer clung to the side of a kayak with “a thousand-yard stare” because “he had just watched someone disappear beneath him.”
“They all said the same thing: She went under. Right here. Right below us,” the volunteer said.
The volunteer said he dove in after her “countless times” and recalled feeling her body with one foot on his first attempt.
“She was gone. I don’t know how to describe what that felt like. I tried again. And again. And again. I just knew I would feel her again and could grab her and pull her up,” he said. “It never entered my mind that she had already passed long ago. I just kept searching like I was going to pull her up alive.”
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