AUSTIN, Texas – A Texas sheriff said Thursday that three hog hunters from Florida died in an underground tank filled with sewer gas after one of them apparently tried rescuing their dog after it fell into the hole, followed by the other two jumping in to save them.
Bastrop County Sheriff Maurice Cook confirmed to Local 10 News Thursday evening that one of the victims was from Miami Gardens. The incident happened at around 1 a.m. Wednesday.
The bodies of two men and a woman, as well as the dog, were pulled from the tank in a cornfield on the rural outskirts of Austin. Cook said the hole was a cistern with an opening roughly 4 feet (1.2 meters) wide and containing 8 feet (2.4 meters) of water, as well as hydrogen sulfide gas.
He said the chain of events started early Wednesday in the middle of the night with one of the men apparently getting into the cistern to rescue the dog, which he described as a bloodhound. Clothing and boots belonging to the other two hunters were found near the hole, suggesting they removed them before also jumping in, Cook said.
He said authorities believe the hunters were overcome by hydrogen sulfide gas in the hole and sank to the bottom.
“There was no cover. This was just an open hole in the middle of a cornfield,” Cook said.
Cook identified the South Florida victim as Denise Martinez, 26, of Miami Gardens. Also killed, he said, were Delvys Garcia, 37, of Naples and Noel Vigil-Benitez, 45, of Wauchula.
Cook said the cistern had a “high level” of hydrogen sulfide. He said stagnating water and the decay of other animals that previously died in the cistern could create levels that would be deadly.
The hunting party included a fourth person, from Texas, who did not go into the hole. Cook said that hunter told authorities the dog escaped from their truck and that they tracked it using a device on the dog’s collar.
Efforts to recover the bodies were hampered by concerns from dive teams about the gas and the integrity of the structure’s walls, he said. The tank had “strong fumes, similar to those of a septic tank, coming from the cistern,” according to a statement from the sheriff’s office.
A GoFundMe page was created to help Martinez’s family members with funeral costs, and it can be found by clicking here.
Local 10 has also obtained the GoFundMe pages for Delvys Garcia and Noel Vigil-Benitez.