A young man who witnessed a car plunge into a Dartmouth, N.S. lake jumped in and managed to pull the driver out of the water while his girlfriend called 911, but despite their valiant efforts, the man died from his injuries.

Faith Wesson and Nick Kaiser say it still seems surreal.

"We saw a car swerve out of control, starting to fishtail almost," describes Kaiser.

Police responded to the accident shortly after midnight Friday on Prince Albert Road, close to where it intersects with Sinclair Street.

Kaiser told police the car was travelling eastbound on Prince Albert Road when the driver lost control, causing the car to cross the centerline, strike a curb and then a power pole before it plunged into Lake Banook

"I was screaming to my girlfriend to call 911 or do something as I was running towards the vehicle," says Kaiser.

"I had called them (911) and I was like ‘there's a man in Lake Banook, he's seriously injured. You need to send some help," says Wesson.

She stayed on the phone and attempted to flag down help while Kaiser jumped into the water and used a rock to smash the passenger side window so he could open the door before the car was submerged.

"He was crawling towards me and I helped him get out of the vehicle," recalls Kaiser. "I was able to get him to shore and get him about 50 per cent out of the water."

By that time another man had stopped and he helped the 30-year-old driver out of the water as well, but Kaiser says the man started to slip in and out of consciousness.

Emergency crews were on the scene within minutes and they took the man to the hospital, but police say he died a short time later.

The man's car was pulled out of the water just before noon on Friday. Investigators will examine the vehicle and look for clues to determine what may have caused the crash.

"We are looking at speed as being a contributing factor, but whether or not it's a sole contributing factor, we're not sure," says Const. Brian Palmeter. "Certainly we have to make sure and rule out any mechanical failures in the vehicle and things of that nature."

Wesson and Kaiser didn't know the man but they want his family to know that he was more concerned about others than himself before he died.

"The main thing he kept asking me was ‘is anybody else hurt? Did I hurt anybody?'" says Kaiser. "Never once did he ask me ‘am I OK?' He was more concerned about anybody else that may have got injured."

"I'm glad that we were there because if someone wasn't there I don't know what would have happened to the man," says Wesson. "I'm glad that we were able to get him out."

But both Kaiser and Wesson still wish the outcome had been different.

"I wouldn't say there was guilt," says Kaiser. "But it is, of course, such a sad thing to know because just that you did everything, and sometimes everything isn't enough."

The vicitm's name has not yet been released.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Jacqueline Foster