Singer Gloria Estefan watched helplessly as her husband Emilio dove in the water in a frantic bid to save a dying jet skiier.

The horror unfolded off Miami Beach when the man’s jet ski collided with the Estefans’ boat and he slipped into the whirling props.

"Emilio was shouting at the guy: ‘Don’t worry, you’ll be all right. Just hold on man, help’s on the way,’ " a family insider reveals. "But in his heart, he knew differently. The man’s injuries were just too horrible to look at. Emilio sensed the guy was dying in his arms."

Meanwhile, Gloria frantically dialed 911 on a cellular phone and tried to save the victim’s injured girlfriend from drowning.

But it was too late for Howard Clarke, 29, who accidentally rammed a jet ski into Estefan’s boat – and paid for it with his life. He was sucked into the propeller blades and died of massive injuries.

Clarke’s passenger Tisha Greene, 22, also slammed into the boat but miraculously survived.

"As soon as he saw the blood, Emilio jumped in the water to help Clarke, whose head and face were badly gashed," reveals the family insider. "Emilio kept trying to talk to Clarke and keep him alive, asking him: ‘What’s your name, can you hear me? Please tell me your name.’ "

"Gloria was hysterical and crying, both of them were screaming, it was total madness."

Gloria quickly called 911. "Help us!" she shrieked. "A guy’s been hit. He’s in the water on Miami Beach. Please!"

"Are you the person that hit him?" asked the operator.

"Yes, we got hit with him," Gloria screamed. "We need the Coast Guard right away!"

Gloria then turned to jet ski passenger Greene, who was hanging desperately on the other side of the boat. "The bleeding girl cried for someone to help her," the insider says.

Gloria, who suffered a broken back in a 1990 bus crash, could only tell her: "Hold on, hold on. I can’t lift you."

"Gloria then turned to Emilio – and saw blood everywhere in the water."

" ‘ Emilio!’ she screamed. ‘Is he all right? Is he all right? God, let him be all right!’ "

Emilio struggled to keep Clarke afloat in choppy waves. The marine patrol arrived within minutes, says the insider, but Clarke was already dead.

Emilio, 42, and 38-year-old Gloria were cruising along the beach when Clarke and Greene zoomed by on a jet ski, says the Florida Marine Patrol.

The tourists, law students from Washington D.C., made several passes behind Estefan’s boat before coming in for a closer look, then veered out of control and slammed into their hull.

"Gloria is beside herself with grief," says the family insider. "She was in tears when she told me: ‘Even though it wasn’t our fault, we’ve taken a boy’s life. How do you live with something like that?’ "

Gloria was so overcome with sorrow following the boating accident that she asked the marine patrol for help in contacting the victim’s parents, according to a family insider.

"She asked the marine patrol for the telephone number of the dead boy’s mother and father so she could cry with them because she’s a mother herself and she knows the pain she would feel if she lost one of her own children."

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Ein herzliches Dankeschön an Amanda Warnock für das Senden dieser Zeitschrift.
A very warm Thank You to Amanda Warnock for sending me this magazine.

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