A Flanders man drowned at an upstate campground this weekend, according to N.Y. State Police.
Police said Ricardo Ismalej Xujar, 47, was at the Landers Minisink Campground in the Town of Highland when he drowned while swimming in the Delaware River Saturday.
Ismalej entered the river at about 1:30 p.m. and attempted to swim across when he became fatigued and went under the water and did not resurface, according to a police press release.
Ismalej was located at approximately 6:43 p.m. and was pronounced deceased by a Town of Highland Ambulance Paramedic, troopers said.
Ismalej’s step-daughter, Mariana Gabieles, said in a post on GoFundMe that he was swimming with her mother when he suffered a cramp that led to his drowning.
Gabieles is fundraising for help to send his remains to his native Guatemala and give him a Christian burial, she wrote on GoFundMe Sunday.
“This news has destroyed us as a family and his family in Guatemala,” she wrote.
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