The bodies of two young men who drowned in an extension of the Blackwater River were recovered by divers from the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office overnight.
The brothers, 26-year-old David Florian and 21-year-old Greg Florian, were walking on a sandbar near Deaton Bridge with two other individuals about 6 p.m. Tuesday, according to the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office.
The men went into the water and were swept away by the current. None of the individuals could swim, the report said.
Witnesses told deputies that they watched David and Greg go under the water and never return to the surface.
Divers and searchers from multiple agencies searched the river and surrounding area into the evening. David Floria was found in 9 feet of water just after 10 p.m. and identified by his sister, the report said.
His brother, Greg, was found about 12:30 a.m. about 10 feet upstream.
The river was unusually high and currents swift, the divers reported. Visibility was also poor.
The deaths of the brothers bring the area drowning toll up to five this year. A Louisiana man lost his life in the Gulf of Mexico last week. A Fort Walton Beach man died trying to swim across the Santa Rosa Sound this spring and a woman visiting in Crestview drowned in a pond, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Update: Brothers drown by Deaton's Bridge