A Winnipeg homeless man who saved a teen from the Red River in May is again being called a hero after he leapt into the water on Friday to help a drowning woman and her boyfriend.
But as police and friends praised Faron Hall, 44, for saving the drowning woman, Hall himself was deeply troubled by the loss of his friend.
Though Hall acted quickly and dove into the deep, fast-moving water, he wasn't able to pull both people to safety.
"I tried, I tried to save both of them," Hall said, sitting near the river bank and speaking to police.
By the afternoon, police had pulled the body of a man from the river.
According to witnesses, a group of friends were hanging out near the river when a woman accidentally fell into eight-metre-deep water near the city's Norwood Bridge.
The woman's boyfriend then dove into the water to help her, but neither of them could swim.
Witness Leonard Kies said Hall did his best to save both people, but it was simply too difficult to bring both of them to shore.
"(Hall) went under. You can tell by the mud on him, he went under to the bottom. He couldn't save his friend, his friend is gone," Kies said.
The deceased is a 28-year-old man with a daughter, CTV Winnipeg reported. His name hasn't been released yet.
Hall, who struggles with alcoholism, was thrust into the spotlight in the spring, when he saved a teenager from the Red River. Hall had been living under a nearby bridge for about seven years before the rescue.
While Hall received accolades from the city and the provincial government, he still calls the banks of the river home.
With a report from CTV Winnipeg's Kelly Dehn
