Drowning in Destin

[SHELLY]

Man drowns in gulf, three more pulled out of water

Thursday May 3rd, 2007

A relatively calm day at the beach turned deadly Thursday afternoon in Destin.

One man drowned and three were rescued when the rented kayak they were playing on in the Gulf of Mexico got away from them and they quickly found themselves in distress.

They were only 40 yards offshore and gentle waves were lapping the sand. Yellow flags were posted along the beach, just west of the popular Back Porch restaurant, indicating to swimmers that they should use caution when entering the water.

Almost immediately after the four men found themselves in trouble, a lifeguard with the Destin Beach Safety Patrol and other rescuers were rushing into the water to help.

Witnesses said two of the men made it to shore and two did not.

One of the rescuers was a veteran beach service vendor who dove into the water with a flotation device, and he was able to pull one of the men to safety. The other man was underwater for several minutes, the beach vendor said.

Within minutes, emergency medical technicians were giving oxygen to two of the men as they sat on the beach.

Once ashore, rescuers strapped one of the men onto the beach patrol?s ATV, which drove a short distance to a beach access boardwalk, where he was transferred to a gurney and wheeled to an ambulance waiting on Restaurant Row.

About 20 minutes later, officials confirmed he did not survive.

The lifeguard from the Destin Beach Safety Patrol declined to comment.

A man who said he was with the four victims said they were active-duty military and visiting Destin; he declined to release any names or other personal information about the victim, pending notification of family and military personnel.

None of the four men was wearing lifejackets or any other personal floatation devices at the time of the incident.

The drowning was the first on a guarded Destin beach since the Destin Beach Safety Patrol was launched in 2003.

 

[organicmama]

Very sad.

Mr. OM said that when he had the girls out on the beach, the current was strong, although it didn't look like it and the flag was only yellow. He wouldn't let them out in it because it knocked him down twice. He's not a small person.

 

[seacrestkristi]

:shock:

 

[Miss Kitty]

Please wear life jackets when in a boat.

 

[beachmouse]

Makes me wonder if alcohol was involved because I'd think that the Army would make sure how they knew how to swim somewhat competently. (Daily Fishwrapper identified the group as Army guys on leave before going to Iraq)

 

[Smiling JOe]

I thought the Navy trained for water and the Army for ground.

Anywho, the interesting note is that that according to the article, it sounds like beach was guarded by a lifeguard. Again, rely on yourself, think for yourself, and be prepared. Lifeguards may be educational and in many cases, they save lives, but we shouldn't rely upon them to ensure that we don't drown, any more than we should rely on the Police to stop a burglar from entering our home.

 

[ladyj]

Do you have to call it the "daily fishwrapper"?

 

[Smiling JOe]

Do you have to call it the "daily fishwrapper"?

don't take it personally. I call it the daily rag. Once read, the newspaper becomes recycled if you use it to clean windows or wrap fish, before trashing it or putting it in your garden. It doesn't mean the news paper isn't worthy.

 

[ladyj]

Thanks for that.

 

[beachmouse]

Apologies if you work for Freedom, but I'm really unimpressed with the Daily News since it seems to cover so little actual local news in favor of far too many AP stories I can read anywhere on the internet. The Bay Becon covers more local stuff as a weekly than the Daily News does over seven days. Same goes for the Destin Log, though they irritate me for running far too many industry press releases in a format that suggests they're ojective news stories.