Xanthei Linares, 24, was killed when she plunged into the California Aqueduct in Hesperia on Friday morning
A California woman screamed ‘I love you’ to her mother just moments before she crashed her vehicle into an aqueduct and drowned to death.
Just after midnight Friday, Xanthei Linares was traveling west along Main Street near Escondido Avenue in Hesperia, when she lost control of the wheel and flew through a fence.
Linares’ car then plunged into the California Aqueduct where it was inundated underwater, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
‘Traffic collision Main Street and Escondido, vehicle into aqueduct, one occupant – dive team on scene. PIO in route to location,’ the department wrote to their Twitter page early this morning, while no third party was said to be involved.
Linares’ heartbroken mother, Patricia Linares, told KTLA her daughter said her during the final phone call: ‘Mommy, mommy … the car. I went in the water … The aqueduct mommy.
Linares managed to call her mother frantically to tell her she loved her when she crashed and her vehicle was filling with water
‘She was screaming desperately,’ Patricia added, when talking about the nightmare conversation at a press conference Friday afternoon.
Linares’ sister, Annette, revealed her late sister was a cancer survivor and underwent a kidney transplant earlier on in life.
‘The last words that she was able to say to my mom before she went under completely and was no longer able to speak were ‘I love you,” Annette said.
The dive team recovered Linares around 4 a.m. and her vehicle about 1,400 feet south of the bridge over the aqueduct, according to The Sacramento Bee.
The dive team recovered Linares around 4 a.m. in the California Aqueduct
‘Update Hesperia – adult female recovered from vehicle and pronounced deceased Hesperia MAIT investigating the collision. No addtl info avail,’ the department later updated to social media.
The family since created a GoFundMe page to aid in funeral expenses.
Earlier this year, Christina Estrada and two of her toddler-aged children also died after their vehicle flew into the aqueduct. The third child, aged 10, was the sole survivor.
The body of one of the toddlers who died in the crash was not recovered until two weeks after the March 2 incident.
Officials who investigated the matter at the time revealed there was ‘nothing to suggest’ of it ‘other than a very tragic accident.’
The bridge will likely undergo a safety inspection following the fatal accidents.