Headline Surfer photo graphic illustration / ABOVE: Screenshot pic at 9:35 am Sunday, Dec. 4, 2022, from Volusia County Beach cam off the Flagler Avenue beach access ramp in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Source for rip current info above & at left / National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
By HENRY FREDERICK / Headline Surfer
NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- A 54-year-old South Carolina man drove over here with a co-worker from a job site in Orlando for an early Friday afternoon lunch and a refreshing dip in the ocean.
The man never made it back to shore alive. He got caught in the lethal grip of a powerful rip, was pulled under, and drowned.
In the wake of two devastating hurricanes, Mother Nature took another life - the ninth so far this year - with five of those drownings occurring during Hurricane Ian.
Such a tragic circumstance is a typical refrain for swimmers who try to fight the death grip of a rip current by attempting to swim straight back to shore -- tiring fast to the point of going under and drowning instead.
This rather than swimming parallel to shore to escape the rip current created by the displacement of sand by the pounding surf.
And herein is another example of a death that likely could have been avoided by swimming in front of a lifeguard.
Here is a summary of the 1:30 p.m. Friday drowning in a Beach Safety email media alert to Headline Surfer:
The victim's co-worker told Beach Safety personnel he lost sight of him in the surf. Beach Safety personnel responded to 9-1-1 calls.
Rescuers performed CPR after a lengthy search on jet skis to recover the man's body.
"The victim went missing in the surf for approximately 1 1/2 to 2 hours before we were able to locate him with a rescue ski," Beach Safety Deputy Chief Tammy Malphurs told Headline Surfer.
"Along with New Smyrna Beach Fire Rescue and Volusia County Fire Rescue, we provided life-saving measures. Unfortunately, the man did not survive. We are not releasing his name at this time pending family notification."
"The victim went missing in the surf for approximately 1 1/2 to 2 hours before we were able to locate him with a rescue ski," Volusia County Beach Safety Deputy Chief Tammy Malphurs, shown here, told Headline Surfer.
"Along with New Smyrna Beach Fire Rescue and Volusia County Fire Rescue, we provided life-saving measures. Unfortunately, the man did not survive. We are not releasing his name at this time pending family notification."
Headline Surfer will reach out to Malphurs today to see if she can release the man's name and the incident report.
The tragic situation might have been averted had the victim and his friends chosen to swim in an area where a lifeguard was stationed.
The victim and one or more co-workers were swimming in an unguarded area in the 6000 block south, near Pompano Avenue, in the southernmost stretch of New Smyrna known as Bethune Beach.
About the Byline Writer: Henry Frederick is a member of the working press and publisher of Headline Surfer, the award-winning 24/7 internet news outlet launched in 2008 along the I-4 tourism corridor in greater Daytona Beach to Orlando from Lake Mary, Florida via HeadlineSurfer.com. Frederick has amassed 115 award-winning bylines in print & online. He earned his Master of Arts in New Media Journalism from Full Sail University in 2019. He was a breaking news reporter (metro cops & courts beat) for the Daytona Beach News-Journal for nearly a decade. And Before that worked the same beat for The Journal-News/Gannett Suburban Newspapers in Rockland/Westchester counties, NY, dating back to 1989. Having witnessed the execution of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Florida's death chamber and covering other high-profile cases such as the George Zimmerman murder trial, Frederick has appeared on national crime shows on Discovery ID, Reelz, and the Oxygen Network series "Snapped" for his analysis.