A man in the United States has drowned after "selflessly" giving his life to save his family.
Fred Pepperman raced into the ocean at a Florida beach when he noticed one of his daughters appeared to be struggling, reports WBIR News.
The 16-year-old was far from the beach and "you could just see something was wrong," Pepperman's wife Julie told WBIR.
Pepperman, 53, was joined by two of his other daughters, who also jumped into the sea to help in the rescue effort.
However, the conditions were rougher than they had anticipated, with Julie saying her husband had to use all his strength to pull his daughters from under the surface and push them towards safety.
"If it wasn't for his efforts, Grace and Olivia definitely would have been lost and Kathryn and myself probably would have been lost," Julie Pepperman wrote on Facebook.
"He was amazing, selfless, tireless, and committed to making sure we were all out of the water."
She said his "body was worn out" from the effort and three onlookers jumped into help, pulling him to shore and attempting to perform CPR.
According to his wife, Pepperman died on July 14, less than two weeks before the couple's 28th wedding anniversary.
"He was my love and a wonderful father to our children," she wrote.
"You did good, Freddie. Our girls are safe. You saved your family. You are a good man, through and through. We love you and our hearts are breaking!
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family.
Newshub.
