UPDATE: Manville, Somerset County Mourn For Boy Who Drowned After Car Crash

The Manville School District is mourning the loss of Jorge Luis Florez-Martinez Jr., who drowned with his father early Sunday morning following a car crash.

School Board President Heidi Alles said the Weston Elementary School second-grader “was an adorable, friendly, sweet boy that was loved dearly by his classmates and teachers...He will be very, very missed,” Alles said according to NJ.com. She said he loved baseball and spending time outdoors, according to NJ.com.

The father and son from Manville died early Sunday when their car crashed and ended up in the Delaware Raritan Canal in Franklin Township, said Somerset County Prosecutor Geoffrey D. Soriano.

Jorge Luis Florez-Martinez, 29, of South Main Street in Manville and his 7-year-old son, Jorge Jr., were trapped in their car in the Delaware Raritan Canal. Somerset Fire and Rescue Unit divers ultimately recovered the bodies from the waterway.

Yaritza Ruiz, 32, who was Florez-Martinez’s wife and the mother of Jorge, Jr., was the front passenger in the vehicle. Once the vehicle entered the canal, she was able to exit the SUV and swim to safety, according to the SCPO.

At 2:55 a.m., the Franklin Township Police Department and the Somerset Fire and Rescue # 56 Company No. 1 Volunteer Fire Department responded to a single vehicle crash on Weston Canal Road. Responding officers discovered a 2006 Avalanche SUV in the Delaware Raritan Canal, according to the SCPO.

The Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Collision Analysis Reconstruction Team and the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Dive-Rescue Team also responded.

Somerset Fire and Rescue Unit divers, under the command of Chief Anthony Panchery, recovered Florez-Martinez and Jorge Jr. from the canal.

The investigation revealed that the vehicle, operated by Florez-Martinez was traveling westbound on Weston Road when he failed to negotiate a bend in the road and left the roadway before striking a guardrail and entering the canal, according to the SCPO.

After the recoveries, both victims were pronounced deceased at the scene via doctors at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital-New Brunswick.

Numerous fire and rescue agencies from neighboring towns in Somerset and Middlesex Counties assisted in the search and recovery of the victims.