A California tech executive died Sunday after he jumped into a swimming pool to save his daughter, who was being electrocuted and turning blue in the water, PEOPLE confirms.
Jim Tramel, 43, of Burlingame, California, saw his daughter, 9, struggling in the pool at a home in Palm Springs during a family gathering and leaped in to save her, police said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE.
Tramel was electrocuted as well, and both father and daughter had to be pulled from the pool by others at the gathering. The electrocutions likely occurred “as a result of faulty pool wires,” police said.
When paramedics arrived, father and daughter were receiving CPR, police said. Tramel was pronounced dead at Desert Regional Medical Center a short time later. His daughter was said to be in critical condition at Loma Linda Medical University.
Five other people, including four other kids, were also electrocuted, though not as severely, police said.
Tramel, who most recently worked in sales at RevJet in San Carlos, was remembered as a kind, loving and gregarious man.
“He could walk into any room, everyone was excited to meet him. I don’t think he ever met anyone he didn’t consider a friend,” one friend told KGO-TV.
RevJet CEO Mitchell Weisman has created a GoFundMe page for Tramel’s family. “We are, in a word, heartbroken,” Weisman wrote.
The page has raised almost $100,000 so far.
This article originally appeared on People.com
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