A man has died trying to save his fiancee from drowning after a storm hit the Tennessee lake they were swimming in.
Amanda Quartz said her fiance Andrew Ehrman, 30, was a ‘hero’ after he sacrificed himself to save her when disaster struck, Click on Detroit reports.
The couple were visiting relatives in Knoxville over the holiday weekend when they took a trip to Cherokee Lake. The sun was out so they decided to take out Quartz’s great uncle’s boat and take a dip in the lake, but that is when the weather changed.
Amanda Quartz said her fiance Andrew Ehrman, 30, (pictured together) was a ‘hero’ after he sacrificed himself to save her when disaster struck
The couple were visiting relatives in Knoxville over the holiday weekend and decided to go swimming in Cherokee Lake. Pictured are authorities looking for his body in the lake
‘It was totally calm, and the sun came out, and we’d really wanted to take a dip,’ Quartz said. ‘So we jumped in, and all of a sudden, in an instant, everything changed. Just like that it got stormy, and we knew something was wrong and we tried to get back on the boat.’
A strong wind began blowing across the lake, pushing the family pontoon far out of reach.
Both began swimming towards the boat as the current and storm made the journey increasingly difficult.
Quartz said she was starting to struggle, and her legs begin to tire, when she felt her fiance helping her.
The sun was out so they decided to take out Quartz’s great uncle’s boat and take a dip in the lake, but that is when the weather changed
The couple had been together for a year and were planning to get married soon
Quartz says she wants people to remember her fiance as a ‘hero’ who gave up his life for her
‘I just felt him push me really hard, with all his strength, toward the boat as it was coming, and that was it,’ she said.
Quartz made it to the boat, but when she looked for her fiance, he had disappeared.
Authorities called off the search for his body after two days.
The couple had been together for a year and were planning to get married soon.
‘I want people to remember how funny he was, how smart and clever, and just all the good that he did,’ Quartz said. ‘He hustles so hard, harder than anyone I’ve ever met, and I just want people to remember that, and he’s a hero because that’s what he is.’
Quartz and Ehrman, a mechanical engineer for an auto supplier, lived together in Plymouth.