HARTWELL, Ga. — Contstantin Pascal was getting ready to celebrate his 46th birthday and 11th wedding anniversary. However, the father of two never even got the chance to open his Father’s Day gifts.
On June 16, multiple agencies from Georgia and South Carolina, including Georgia Game Wardens with Department of Natural Resources, responded to a drowning at Paynes Creek Boat Ramp on Lake Hartwell.
Ana Pscal said her husband, their 10-year-old and 6-year-old sons along with her mother-in-law were on their ski boat. Ana decided to stay behind. She said they were pulling the boys on a tube behind the boat when she decided to head back to Lawrenceville.
On her way back she got a call from her mother-in-law and her oldest son stating something bad happened.
“Mom, I don’t see daddy, I don’t see Emanuel. I’m shaking, I’m scared,” she recalled her 10-year-old son Daniel telling her.
She told them to call 911 and she hung up and did the same.
When Ana got back to the lake, she learned her husband jumped in the lake and never resurfaced.
PHOTOS | Husband, father of two died days before Father’s Day while saving son in Lake Hartwell
Ana said at some point while Contstantin was pulling their youngest son on a tube, he fell off the tube and his life jacket slipped off.
“He was trying to struggle to survive,” she explained.
Her husband stopped the boat and dove into the water to help his son.
“Daniel said he (Contstantin) was holding his hands to his chest and his mom said he was gargling, then he went down,” Ana said.
In the meantime, someone on a jet ski happened to be riding by and saw the commotion. Ana said that person helped pull her youngest son out of the water.
It wasn’t long until Game Wardens, with assistance from Hart County Fire, Hart County Sheriff’s Office, Anderson County, SC Sheriff’s Office Marine Unit, and the Elbert County Fire Dive Team, started using several boats to search the area with SONAR. Divers were also in the water searching.
DNR said on June 17 at 6:40 p.m., the Elbert County Fire Dive Team recovered Contstantin’s body in 43 feet of water.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do without him, every night I wake up in the middle of the night and say this is a dream, but this is not a dream, it’s real,” Ana explained as she began to cry.
She added, “We kind of joked around like I cannot live without you and here I am trying to live without him… and it’s hard, it’s hard without him."
Ana said her mother-in-law is visiting from Romania. She was here to see her grandkids and to visit, but now must bury her son before she returns.
“No mother should have to bury their child,” she said.
Ana said now she’s just trying to figure out how to move forward and be there for her two boys as they learn to live without Contstantin.
“He was the love of my life, he was my soul mate,” Ana explained.
She said he couldn’t have been a better father, “He did everything for the family, everything.”
Up until his last breath, saving his youngest child.
“This is not how it’s supposed to be," Ana explained.
Drownings in Georgia, first half of the year comparisons:
- 2023 YTD (1/1/2023 – 6/19/2023) drownings in Georgia - 20
- 2022 (1/1/2022 – 6/19/2022) drownings in Georgia - 26
- 2021 (1/1/2021 – 6/19/2021) drownings in Georgia – 29