Three visitors from Utah on a canyoneering expedition along a California river died when two tried to save the third from a whirlpool, friends and family reported.

The incident took place Friday, Aug. 23, on the Seven Teacups Trail along the Kern River, the Tulare County Fire Department told KGET.

The Kern River is about a 70-mile drive northeast from Bakersfield.

David Bell, Jeannine Skinner and Peter On, all of Utah, were on a canyoneering expedition on the Seven Teacups Trail along the river, Summerisa Bell Stevens, Bell’s sister, told KSL.

At the final stop, Skinner rappelled into a pool in the river and became caught in a whirlpool, Cyndi Bell Miller, another sister of Bell’s, said on Facebook.

The current pulled her underwater as On and Bell jumped in to try to save her, Miller said.

“There was a circular current that they think was caused by either a large log or a rock that was pushed into that area,” Stevens told KSL. Bell escaped the current at one point but then went back in after Skinner, she said.

Others on the expedition pulled the three from the water and tried to revive them, but the three friends all died, a GoFundMe said.

Firefighters responded at about 5:20 p.m., KGET reported.

The 4-mile Seven Teacups Trail follows the river through a canyon and down a series of pools, forming the teacups, SF Gate reported.

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