Former Vanderbilt runner and her sister drown after being thrown overboard
Had the sisters’ worn life jackets, “we would have had a much better outcome than we did,” officials said.
A Texas family has been left devastated by the death of two sisters who drowned during a July 4th celebration on Sunday.
The sisters, Teegan Hill, 31, and Troinee Broom, 28, were celebrating Hill’s birthday with at least 12 friends at Lake Lewisville in north Texas. According to PEOPLE, the group rented a pontoon boat, and at some point, there was an accident and it began taking on water. The sisters were thrown from the boat and did not resurface. The women were not wearing life jackets.
Their bodies were recovered on Sunday night, according to KTVT.
“They were like two peas in a pod. They did everything together,” the sisters’ father, Antroin Broom, told KDFW. “Two beautiful girls. They loved life, they loved people. I just ask people to pray for me and my family.”
Hill, a graduate of Thurgood Marshall School of Law, was an attorney in Dallas and a former star runner on Vanderbilt’s track and field team. Broom was a teacher.
“It’s difficult for me to process the tragic news of the deaths of Teegan Hill and her sister, Troinee,” Vanderbilt athletics director Candice Storey Lee wrote on Twitter. “I remember Teegan’s talent on the track, but even more so as a sweet and kind woman. Our hearts go out to her family, teammates and all who loved her. She’s forever a Commodore.”
Attorney Mike H. Bassett, Hill’s colleague at The Bassett Firm, released the following statement on the passing of the sisters: “Teegan J. Hill was a gifted attorney and a blessing to all that knew her. She truly was a ‘one of a kind.’ The Bassett Firm is saddened by the tragic loss of Teegan and her sister. We are praying for all of their family and friends during this very difficult time.”
Game Wardens are still investigating to determine the cause of the incident, but witnesses told CBS 11 the boat looked overcrowded.
The Highland Village Fire Department was called out to the scene just before 8 p.m. on Sunday.
“Upon our arrival, there was a boat that was unloading passengers. The engine and ambulances showed up initially on scene,” Highland Village Fire Department Chief Michael Thomson explained. “We’re able to triage those patients or those passengers. None of them had any injuries. But we did find that there was two passengers that were thrown from the boat that were still missing and unaccounted for.”
First responders planned to call off the search due to low visibility in the water, but the dive team was able to recover the bodies around 12:30 a.m., per the report.
“For the safety of the divers, we planned to restart the search [Monday] morning, however, the game wardens, using their sonar as they were leaving, thought that they had identified the potential location,” Thomson said. “So after conversing with the Lewisville Fire Department’s dive team and the game wardens, we opted to have the dive team come back out.”
Had the sisters’ worn life jackets, “we would have had a much better outcome than we did,” said Thomson.
“These accidents happen so quickly. People think they have time to put on a life preserver after the accident happens, but these accidents happen so quickly. Before you know, it is too late,” Thomson said.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with their family and that we must stress the importance of wearing a life preserver when boating, no matter your ability to swim or not,” Thomson tells PEOPLE in a statement. “We feel that if the victims of this tragedy had been wearing life preservers, we may have had a very different outcome.”
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