A 21-year-old man drowned an hour after his baptism while trying to rescue a young girl struggling to survive on a lake in north Texas.

Lincer Lopez had just been baptized in Lake Waxahachie on Saturday afternoon when the girl began drowning around 12:45 p.m., Lopez’s family told WFAA.

Lopez immediately jumped to her aid, but also had problems in the water, Waxahachie police said.

A boater pulled the girl from the lake and performed CPR. She and Lopez were taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

“He was a hero,” Lopez’s uncle Jacobo Lopez told WFAA in Spanish.

“He didn’t think twice about saving someone else. He didn’t think about the risk that he could die. And he risked his life to save someone else’s,” he added.

Lopez and the teenager were both part of a large Garland church congregation that enjoyed the lake after several baptisms were performed there.

The 21-year-old was so excited about his baptism the night before that he couldn’t sleep, his uncle said.

Jacob Bell, the boatman who pulled the girl from the lake and performed CPR on her, was still stunned after saving her life.

“I haven’t really started it yet – I haven’t figured it out yet,” he told WFAA. “It’s hard.”

Bell told the outlet that his brother drowned when he was just three years old and he couldn’t imagine the pain Lopez’s family is going through.

“He was a hero, he had just been baptized and dedicated his life to the Lord, and our family, we pray for his family and we pray for the little girl’s family,” Bell said.

“And he was a strong boy, they should be very proud of him.”

Lopez’s family said he worked in construction and will send money to his parents and siblings, who still live in Mexico. They have started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to send his body to them.

Waxahachie is located about 30 miles south of Dallas in northern Texas.