As they paddled toward the dam, the three men and one woman turned the boat to the bank with the intent of pushing off and turning in the other direction.

“The back end of the canoe just got pulled in by the churning current,” Kinney said.

All four were dumped in the water. Dicola, who along with Mitrenko was wearing a life vest, said the pressure of the current was so strong it tore the vest off of him, Kinney said.

The three survivors swam to a fisherman’s boat, where they were rescued. Mitrenko was swept away into the current.

“Alex was trying to help his brother, but the current was too swift,” he said. “The amazing thing is that three of them survived.”

Clay Rowe, vice president of Rowe Line Construction where Mitrenko worked since early June, said the young man everyone at the company knew as “Ross” was a lively, outgoing person who made a big impact in the short time he was there working in traffic control.

“He just had a super personality. He would have been a success at whatever he would have pursued,” Rowe said. “All of us here feel a tremendous loss.”

Rowe said he was surprised to learn the 6-foot-tall young man was unable to swim to safety.

“He seemed like he was in very good shape,” he said, describing his hands as calloused even though he didn’t perform manual labor at the company.

Kinney said Alex, who notified his parents in the Ukraine about the accident by telephone, hasn’t spoken much about his only sibling’s death.

“They fought like brothers, but they were very, very close,” he said. “I just want to get him through this stage. He’s having a very difficult time.”

Adding to his grief are the arrangements that need to be made to take Mitrenko’s body home.

The coroner’s office is assisting in the effort, but Kinney said Alex is also having to deal with the possibility that since he’s in the U.S. on a work visa he may not be able to return here if he leaves for his brother’s funeral.

“The lawyers are working on it,” he said.