GALVESTON, Texas – A 17-year-old teen from Louisiana tragically drowned Friday afternoon while swimming in the rough surf near 25th Street, just west of the Galveston Historic Pleasure Pier.
Four lifeguards entered the water, with another using a personal watercraft to search for the missing swimmer who was reportedly seen going under west of Pleasure Pier.
Captain Tony Pryor of the Galveston Island Beach Patrol said that a lifeguard spotted someone appearing to struggle in the water. The swimmer went missing in very rough water conditions.
“He was in about chest-deep water, right in the middle of the beach,” Lt. Austin Kirwin of the Galveston Island Beach Patrol said. “There was not a rip current in that area at the time. What we’re assuming is what happened, is he was on a sandbar, and then he got knocked by a wave and then fell into one of those troughs.”
Galveston Island Beach Patrol lifeguards pulled the teenager from the water and performed CPR before transporting him to a waiting ambulance near 25th Street and Seawall Boulevard.
Once in the ambulance, the boy was rushed to UTMB Health’s John Sealy Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Red warning flags were flying at the three lifeguard stands overseeing the popular beach stretch.
“Historically, 80% of all drownings occur because of rip currents,” Lt. Kirwin said.
“Oh, no, I didn’t know that,” added Amanda Alonso, who was watching her kids swim in the same area on Sunday.
On Sunday, the lifeguards lowered the water status from a red flag to a yellow flag, but that doesn’t mean the coast is clear.
“We probably have just as many drownings on green flag days as we do as yellow and red.” Lt. Kirwin said. “We want everybody to have fun down here. But if you can’t stay safe, then it won’t be a fun day.”
The best ways to have a fun day in the sun include listening to the lifeguard’s direction, always swimming with a buddy and setting up nearby a manned lifeguard stand to ensure someone’s always there to watch over you.
“Talk to the lifeguard. Ask them, ‘Where can I swim? Where is it safe? Where’s a good spot for me and my children to play?’” Kirwin said.
The identify of the teen who drowned has not yet been released.