Woman dies after being pulled from Tybee Island north jetties
A 20-year-old female is dead after swimming in the ocean near Tybee Island’s North Beach jetties on Monday night.
At approximately 8:51 p.m. Tybee Island Fire Rescue (TIFR) received a call of two swimmers in distress about 200 yards out from the north jetties. Fire personnel were able to locate a male swimmer who made it back to shore. However, a female swimmer was still missing.
Personnel launched a rescue jet ski and searched in low light conditions and very limited visibility with non-ideal surf conditions, wrote TIFR in a Facebook post. TIFR was able to locate the victim, bring her to shore and begin CPR.
EMS responded within three minutes and the female was taken to Memorial Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
According to a TIFR spokesperson, this is the first drowning incident this year. There were no drownings last year.
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In 2021, a young boy was rescued after being swept underwater at Tybee Island Beach. Tybee Island saw two drownings within two weeks in 2020.
So far, there have been 12 rescues of swimmers in distress in the ocean this year. Six of them occurred last Thursday, when a group visited the island on a field trip. According to Fire Chief Jeremy Kendrick, everyone "was fine and lifeguards received just minor cuts."
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Kendrick cautioned that there are no lifeguards on duty at night so people are swimming at their own risk. He also noted that areas on the north and south end of the sandbar are especially dangerous with the rip currents and jetties.
Tybee Island Lifeguards regularly post updates on water current patterns on their Facebook page.
Nancy Guan is the general assignment reporter covering Chatham County municipalities. Reach her at nguan@gannett.com or on Twitter @nancyguann.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Woman dies after being pulled from Tybee Island north jetties
