A man has died after officials say he was submerged underwater for about 15 minutes in the Saluda River on Tuesday.

Officials say the man did not know how to swim.

The 26-year-old from Irmo, Desmond Shaw, was pronounced dead at Lexington Medical Center at 10:07pm Tuesday.

Columbia Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins says it happened about 4:30pm Tuesday on the West Columbia side of the river, near the Riverbanks Zoo and the Jarvis Klapman Bridge.

Andrew McKee never dreamed a relaxing afternoon of sunbathing at the river would turn into a life-saving effort. He was soaking in the sun on the rocks when emergency crews arrived, saying a man was missing underwater.

"They said he fell off the float and he didn't come back up," says McKee.

Before emergency crews could start their search, Andrew jumped in to try to find him.

"As soon as I got out there were a couple dudes already in the water looking around in the water, so I dove in, try to help the sweep the ground and what not," he says. "We were all just kind of diving in, and as soon as the guy pops up, he's like 'I got him,' so we all just splashed in, picked him up."

"When we pulled him out of the water, he took a short gasp of air, and then he just went limp, and that's the worst feeling in the world right there, freaked me out a little bit," he says. "But still, we got him to the shore."

From there, firefighters found a golf cart on the shore, put the man on the back of it and drove him up the hill, all the while performing CPR.

"There was no pulse, there was no breathing," says McKee.

Jenkins tells WIS News 10 the man was floating on a inflatable raft down the river with some friends. Jenkins says he told his friends he couldn't swim, but they thought he was joking.

At some point during the trip, Shaw got off the raft and climbed onto a rock. Jenkins says Shaw couldn't get back to the raft, and when he got into the water he went under.

Onlookers say the man was submerged for up to fifteen minutes before rescuers began to arrive.

According to Chief Jenkins, the man was unresponsive when he was pulled out of the water. Lexington County EMS administered CPR and rescue breathing, and took him to the hospital.

"He probably hit a deep part of the water and just couldn't get back out," says Jenkins. "He was completely submerged under water."

An autopsy was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

WIS News 10 talked to Shaw's mother and father, who were with Shaw during his last moments of life.

Though Desmond couldn't swim, his parents aren't surprised he followed his friends in a float down the Saluda river Tuesday afternoon.

"He loved people so much, I think his love of people and wanting to have a good time is what took him there," says his father, Ernest.

It was his friends who called Shaw's parents to let them know Desmond was in the hospital.

"I went to see him, he looked so nice in that white sheet, just remember him being so cold, so cold," says his mother, Dolores. "We had to pull the ventilator out, he's gone, he's gone he's gone."

"It's just a sad, sad event to stand and watch your child take his last, breath, I don't wish that on anybody," says Ernest.

Desmond was a computer engineering major at USC. He had a passion for Star Trek and playing clarinet, making his mark in the Dutch Fork High School band.

"He had a love for music, he didn't just do Star Trek music in the band, but classical music," says Ernest.

His parents say Desmond was a self-motivator, and that he even enrolled himself in swimming lessons when he was 18. He learned how to float, but not swim.

His mother says ironically, years before Desmond had watched as his mother and older brother almost drowned in the same part of the Saluda river he did.

"We almost lost, I almost drowned down there and his oldest brother did too, probably about ten-twelve years ago. Almost in that same exact area," says Dolores.

And she has message for parents everywhere.

"I want mothers to teach their children to swim and do it over and over again. I don't care if they're teenagers or if somebody in your house can't swim, teach them to do it," she says.