13-year-old Kentucky teen drowns in Destin, Florida
The Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office is investigating the death of a 13-year-old Kentucky teen who drowned in the Gulf of Mexico Friday morning.
Deputies responded to a call about a distressed swimmer around 11:30 a.m. When deputies arrived at the scene at 3690 Scenic Highway, they discovered that surfers had helped rescue several other juveniles about 65 yards off shore, but they were unable to locate one teen.
OCSO, the marine unit, Walton County Sheriff's Office,Beach Safety EMS, fire departments, the U.S. Coast Guard and Florida Fish and Wildlife assisted in the search.
The body of the teen was located in the Gulf by the OCSO marine unit.
The name of the teen has not been released.
Dangerous waters: Escambia Fire Rescue saves 8 people in 2 Perdido Key locations within hours of each other
Dangerous rip currents put swimmers at risk throughout the Panhandle last week. National Weather Service in Mobile declared high chance for rip currents along the Escambia and Santa Rosa coastline.
Escambia Fire Rescue responded to Johnson Beach in Perdido Key twice on Thursday as eight people were rescued from the water.
Escambia County Public Information Office for Public Safety Davis Wood told the News Journal that three adults and four children needed a rescue around 1:50 p.m. at the 13000 block of Sandy Key Drive. According to Escambia County Public Information Officer Andie Gibson, four of the seven people were transported to an area hospital.
The second incident occurred just before 4 p.m. when one person was "in distress in the water" at the 14000 block of Perdido Key Drive, according to Gibson.
"That person was assisted out of the water by another beachgoer," Gibson said. "LifeFlight has transported this patient to an area hospital."
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: 13-year-old Kentucky teen drowns in Destin, Florida
