A HAUNTING final photo captured five friends standing in a river just moments before they drowned trying to save each other in front of horrified children.
The image, believed to be the last ever taken of the group alive, shows the adults fishing in waist-deep water shortly before a desperate rescue attempt turned into a devastating tragedy.
The heartbreaking picture was taken by pastor Marcus L. Martin, who has spent a decade boating along the Scioto River in Ohio and immediately recognized the stretch of water as dangerous.
“I believe the picture I took may have been the last picture of them being alive,” Martin said.
The experienced boater admitted he considered warning the group after spotting them in the river with two children waiting on a nearby grassy bank.
“I just remember being taught that area was kind of dangerous, in the sense of there being steep slopes” and a quick drop-off into the river, he said.
Martin said he snapped the image because something didn’t feel right.
“I don’t know what it was. I said, I just need to capture this picture,” he recalled.
He later revealed he has been losing sleep after deciding not to call out to the group, fearing his boat passing between others on the river could create dangerous waves.
Authorities believe the nightmare began when one member of the group went for a swim and started struggling in the fast-moving current.
Two others rushed in to help but also got into difficulty before the remaining two adults entered the water in a final attempt to save them.
None of the five made it back to shore.
The alarm was raised at around 9pm when a passing motorist spotted a distraught child running along a nearby road.
The youngster reportedly cried that his “family was in the river”, while another young boy wrapped in a towel was heard screaming, “Mama! Mama!”
Two women were pulled from the water and rushed to hospital, where they were pronounced dead.
The bodies of three men were recovered the following day.
Four of the victims have now been identified as Honduran nationals.
Jose Mario Pineda Dias, 33, and his wife Marina Suyapa Regalado, 28, were named as one of the couples who died, leaving behind two young children.
The second couple has been identified as Miguel Ángel Guerra and Carmen Idalia Lara Ferrera, both 33.
According to a GoFundMe page, they leave behind a seven-year-old daughter.
The fifth victim has not yet been publicly identified as officials continue notifying relatives.
Honduran officials say they are working with US authorities to repatriate the bodies and are supporting the orphaned children affected by the tragedy.
Dias and Regalado’s children are currently in the care of Ohio authorities while plans are made to reunite them with relatives in Honduras, according to Flabia Zamora, director of consular affairs at the Honduran Foreign Ministry.
Investigators say the Scioto River was flowing at around 350 cubic feet per second on Sunday – more than double its average rate, according to a nearby US Geological Survey gauge.
The drownings remain under investigation.
It comes after haunting emergency dispatch audio revealed the frantic search for the missing adults as rescuers realized the operation had turned into a recovery mission.
“The bodies are in there, there are two young juveniles, a young male and a young female, they don’t have any parents,” one deputy was heard saying.
Another deputy reported there had been at least eight people in the water, telling Sheriff Jeffrey Balzer: “We got five out, three confirmed missing.”
As crews searched the river, officers radioed that they had found several shoes floating in the current before locating two victims.
“We got two victims in the raft at this time, we’re trying to resuscitate,” one officer said.
Later, as hope faded, rescuers made the grim announcement: “Command, we’re going to terminate rescue efforts. This is now a recovery.”
