Originally posted Mon, 2009-09-28 01:42
ORMOND-BY-THE-SEA -- A New Smyrna Beach boy was swimming with his pregnant girlfriend in an area not guarded by lifeguards when they got caught in a rip current and he went under while she was rescued by a another swimmer. Bendon Martin was just 16.
The body washed ashore early Sunday, Sept. 28, about a mile from the reported drowning in the 1200 block of State Road A1A.
Volusia County Beach Patrol officers began their search at 10:45 a.m. Saturday after a Sheriff's helicopter pilot was unable to spot the missing teen who had been reported missing in the surf just minutes earlier. The two young people, along with the boy's mother's boyfriend decided to swim out to a sandbar, but the boy became separated and after struggling in the surf, the other two returned to shore safely after another swimmer came to the aid of the girl.
Beach Patrol Capt. Scott Petersohn confirmed the deceased boy's identity late Sunday, adding he couldn't understand why the victim was in chest-deep water when he wasn't a good swimmer and why they weren't near where lifeguards are stationed.
"His mom said he wasn't a swimmer," Petersohn said, "which is all the more reason he and his friends should not have been in an area not guarded by lifeguards. I get so frustrated because we put up all those signs advising people to swim near a lifeguard."
Martin was the third drowning victim this year, all drowning in areas of the beach not guarded by lifeguards, Petersohn said.
The rip currents were strong this weekend with nearly a dozen rescues Sunday alone, Petersohn said. The Beach Patrol had 10 lifeguards on duty in New Smyrna Beach alone and 24 on the beaches further north, twice as many as usual because of the rip currents, he said.