STORM2K

06/12/2003

By WVEC.com


A teenaged boy drowned Thursday afternoon while swimming in a Virginia Beach lake.



A 17-year-old boy drowned in Lake Christopher on Thursday afternoon.
The 17-year-old boy and three friends were in Lake Christopher, which is in a neighborhood off Kempsville and Indian River Roads. He was on a sandbar and something happened. He went under about 1:30 p.m. When he didn't come back up, people nearby went into action.

"I saw him bobbing up and down. And being that he had on a snorkel, I didn't know if it was a prank or what," said Richard Mackey. "But when I didn't see him come back up, I asked his friend if he'd swam to the other side and he said no. So we called 911."

Four police officers and some bystanders started a search.

"They swam out and actually found him in 12 feet of water and brought him to shore. He was not breathing and had no pulse," said Ed Brazle with Va. Beach EMS.

Authorities say he was under the water for about 10 minutes. Efforts to revive the teen on shore and at a hospital failed.

The boy was a junior at Tallwood High School. His name hasn't been released because his parents are out of town, police told 13News.

Click here for drowning prevention tips offered by the Centers for Disease Control.

:o Poor parents! I can only imagine the horrible feeling they will have when they get home. :o

You have to be really careful on those sandbars. We have lots of them here on the central west coast of florida. Sometimes ya step off into over 6 ft of water and taken completely by surprise. Such a shame.

What a awful situation compounded with the parents being away.

Stormlover, I read an article in the paper, today, about riptides.
Scary stuff. But, this kid was in a lake, right? Makes you wonder
if it was a leg cramp, or something like that.

Thats probably what caused it Breeze............A leg cramp...........Yes riptides are common at the ocean and not at lakes..........They are very dangerous to be in especially if you dont know what to do..............Which they tell you to let it pull you out and not fight it when you get caught in a ripcurrent at the shore.....................How sad though for the parents to have to come home to this..........

They have undertow at lakes too. Especially the Great Lakes.

What a horrible thought to come home from out of town and find out news like that. I hate hearing about drownings because they shouldn't happen.