PHOENIX — Editor's note: The video above is from a previous broadcast
The two men who died after going underwater and never resurfacing at the Sheep's Crossing Recreation Site on the Salt River northeast of Mesa have been identified as a pair of cousins from Afghanistan by the Arizona Refugee Center.
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office told 12News they were called to the Sheep's Crossing Recreation Site at about 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday due to reports of a drowning.
Deputies were told that multiple people "became distressed" while in the water, and at least two people who went underwater didn't resurface.
When deputies arrived, they found two people on Blue Rock Beach doing chest compressions on a man. Despite aid from deputies and paramedics, the man, now identified as Mohammad Seleman Nasri, was pronounced dead.
The body of the second man who went underwater, identified as 25-year-old Abdul Mosawer Khaliqi, was not found until Saturday.
MCSO said deputies were searching the river on an airboat at about 9:30 a.m. on Saturday after getting reports of "an anomaly located in the water."
Khaliqi's body was found in about eight feet of water. Divers were called in to recover his body, and were able to do so at about noon on Saturday.
It is not known what led to Khaliqi and the other man becoming distressed and drowning. MCSO said they are still investigating what happened.
The Arizona Refugee Center said Nasri and Khaliqi were cousins who were evacuated out of Afghanistan in Aug. 2021.
"The Phoenix Afghan community has been devastated by the news, and came out to the river for days while crews searched for the body, to be with the family of the young men," The Arizona Refugee Center said in a press release.
The Center said the cousins settled in the Valley in Oct. 2021.
"When they were resettled in Phoenix they immediately began working to pay their rent and support their families," the center said. "Both young men had dreams of attending college and (building) their lives here in Arizona. They have been actively working on their immigration status to become permanent residents, a dream for all of the 88,000 Afghans that were brought to the US."
Khaliqi was able to leave Afghanistan along with his two brothers, sister, mother and father, who worked in intelligence and assisted the U.S. military in their fight against the Taliban.
Nasri was a police officer and worked at the airport in Kabul. His mother and siblings are still in Afghanistan.
The center said the Salt River has become a popular spot for Afghan refugees to go to relax on their days off and that both Khaliqi and Nasri were "strong swimmers and have been to the river many times before."
Nasri and Khaliqi will be buried after their bodies are released.
There is a GoFundMe open to support the families of Khaliqi and Nasri. If you would like to donate, click here.
Stay with 12News for more updates.
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