DES MOINES, Iowa -- A boy trying to catch goldfish for his mother drowned in the Des Moines River and a young man died trying to save the child's life, authorities said.
Billy Bass, 9, and Willis Dady, 23, both of Des Moines, drowned Sunday night in a bend of the river.
Brenda Bass, mother of Billy, who was nicknamed 'Boomer,' said the family had been on a picnic at a nearby park.
'He wanted to get a goldfish for me,' she said. 'Some of his friends told me a kid was going to sell one he caught for $5 but he wanted to get his own and went out on that raft to catch a goldfish.'
Police said Dady was on a makeshift raft and Bass dove from a wooden bridge to swim to the raft. When the boy got into trouble, Dady swam after him, but went down with the boy during the rescue effort.
Five members of the Des Moines Fire Department kicked off their boots and dove into the chilly water to search for the victims.
'A boat was another 15 minutes away,' District Fire Chief Robert Armstrong said. 'I don't like what we did from a danger standpoint but we didn't have a choice here.'
By the time the rescue team found the two, they had been under water 20 minutes.
