Woman Makes Final Call To Mom As Her Car Sinks in Aqueduct After Crash: 'She Was Screaming Desperately'

Xanthel Linares

A 24-year-old woman called her mom one last time as her car sank in an aqueduct in California on Friday.

Xanthel Linares, who had survived cancer and a kidney transplant, died early Friday when she veered off the road into an aqueduct in San Bernardino County, police said. 

As her car sank in the water, Linares phoned her mother. 

She said, ‘Mommy, the car. I went in the water,” Patricia Linares, the victim’s mother, said during a press conference. “She was screaming desperately.”

The mom was overcome with emotion at the press conference, reports said, and Linares’ sister, finished speaking on the heartbreaking accident. 

“The last words that she was able to say to my mom before she went under completely and was no longer able to speak was ‘I love you,’” Cosette Linares said. 

Police turned off the aqueduct as soon as they spotted Linares’ vehicle in the water.

Linares' mom also headed to the scene and watched her daughter's car continue to go under.

Linares' vehicle was already submerged by the time a dive team arrived, according to reports. 

“I could see the tail lights going in,” the mother said.

Members of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department dive team recovered Linares’ body around 2:30 a.m. and she was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a police report.

Linares reportedly lived a few minutes away from the crash site. 

In March, a similar tragedy happened in the same aqueduct when a mother and her three children - 2,3, and 10, crashed into the canal. The oldest child was the only survivor in the crash, reports said. 

Both the Linares and Estrada families went to Hesperia City Hall on Friday to petition city officials for stronger barriers around the aqueduct, which is only protected from the road by a simple barbed wire, CBS Los Angeles reported. 

“This is ridiculous, it should have never happened,” Carlotta Estrada, the mother of Christine, told NBC Los Angeles. “It’s the exact, same thing. That obviously shows that there is something wrong right here.”

An investigation by the California Department of Water Services is underway, reports said. 

A GoFundMe has been set up for Linares’ funeral expenses.

Source: Insideedition