HERRIMAN — Tired and out of breath, Marcos Menjivar, 22, made it back to the inner tube where his brother and friend were swimming, but he was apparently too exhausted to lift himself out of the water and instead slipped under the surface and drowned, witnesses and police said at the scene.

"That's when I heard really loud screaming in Spanish," said Alice Pina, 16, who was out swimming with her friends near the distressed group. "I was scared. They (Menjivar's brother and friend) were screaming "Help us, help us he's drowning."

Pina, who speaks Spanish, interpreted the men's cry for help to several other swimmers at Blackridge Reservoir.

Seconds after the tragedy, at about 5:35 p.m. Monday, about 10 nearby swimmers were diving down as deep as they could manage.

"I couldn't see a thing because it was so murky," said Devin Rasmussen, 15, of Herriman. "I was trying to feel around but I couldn't even touch the bottom."

Rasmussen's brother, Jaden Rasmussen, said, "Everybody was screaming in a panic. But we just couldn't find him."

Salt Lake County Sheriff's officials weren't sure why the seemingly fit young man had such a problem swimming and suggested it may simply have been exhaustion.

"Sometimes it doesn't matter how good a swimmer you are," said Salt Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Jake Petersen at the scene. "Regardless of peoples' skill level, they should be thinking about using a vest." He said a life jacket likely would have prevented the drowning.

Menjivar may have had a problem breathing after free swimming 75 yards into the lake wearing cargo shorts with a belt and an undershirt.

"His brother said he (Menjivar) had asthma and couldn't breathe," Pina said.

After about 10 minutes of frantic diving, Menjivar's brother and friend, along with the other volunteers swam to the shore of the seven-acre lake.

A Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue dive team entered the water not long after and found the man's body at about 12 feet below the surface. Mejivar's body was under the water for 2 hours and 15 minutes before it was pulled from the reservoir and taken to shore at 7:50 p.m.

The tragedy marks the first death at the city's new secondary water reservoir.

e-mail: jhancock@desnews.com