WARWICK, R.I. — The body of a 10-year-old girl was recovered from Narragansett Bay Monday afternoon following a search that began Sunday when she went missing in the water off of a sandbar at Conimicut Point Park, Warwick Fire Assistant Chief Brian Cobb said.
The girl, identified as Yoskarly Martinez of Providence, was pulled from the bay at 12:43 p.m., Warwick Fire Battalion Chief Bill Wilson said.
The body of 35-year-old Valentine Cardona Sanchez of Central Falls, R.I., who had tried to save Martinez as she struggled in the water, was recovered Sunday evening. The identities were released at an afternoon news conference held by city officials. Officials had previously reported Martinez’s age as 11, and Sanchez’s age as 30.
Officials said the sandbar, which extends out from the beaches surrounding the park, is dangerous to beachgoers because of strong undercurrents and fast tides that can quickly sweep swimmers away.
“It’s one of the nicest locations in the city for beach access … but avoid the sandbar itself,” Robert Hart, captain of the Warwick Fire Department’s marine and dive unit told reporters. “If you want to go to the beach, use the south side of the beach, use the north side of the beach, there’s no current there, it’s shallow.”
Warwick Mayor Frank Picozzi praised Cardona Sanchez’s courage for trying to save the girl.
“Reports are that the adult male did not know the other victim, he lost his life trying to save the child,” Picozzi wrote on Facebook Sunday night. “He was a hero.”
Cardona Sanchez was brought ashore and transferred to EMS after Coast Guard crews pulled him from the bay at 6:52 p.m. Sunday, according to the Coast Guard.
Martinez was at the park with her family Sunday afternoon when the rip currents pulled her into the water off the sandbar, according to Dean Hoxsie, law enforcement chief of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.
“The currents are very strong here,” he said. “It’s a dangerous place. It really is.”
Three men jumped in to try to save her, including Cardona Sanchez, officials said. The other two were rescued and taken to a hospital; their identities and conditions are unknown. Hart said one of the men was on a breathing tube Sunday.
A Coast Guard helicopter flew in from Cape Cod late Monday morning. Fog over Narragansett Bay delayed the search by the helicopter crew, which took off from Cape Cod at 10 a.m. when the fog began to clear, the Coast Guard said.
Also assisting in the search were Warwick first-responder dive crews, a 45-foot Coast Guard boat, a Department of Environmental Management boat, and a state police boat where rescuers were using side-scan sonar to pick up any anomalies along the bottom of the bay.
Crews were searching an area of Narragansett Bay as far south as Prudence Island and Colt State Park in Bristol, and as far north as Barrington and up into the Providence River, Hoxsie said.
The current runs three to four knots in either direction, and the current, southwesterly winds, and incoming tide were used by the Coast Guard to determine where to focus their search, Hoxsie said.
There are multiple signs warning about the danger of the currents and the sandbar, but the signs are only in English. Hoxsie said there was a language barrier during Sunday’s incident. One sign warns beachgoers that the sandbar “is susceptible to hazardous, fast moving tides, which contain strong undercurrents,” and another warns of a “strong current” and “strong undertow.”
There are no multilingual signs at Conimicut Point, which is owned by the city of Warwick. When the pandemic began last year, and people were urged to spend time outside, the state recreation areas began seeing more visitors coming from different cities and speaking multiple languages, Hoxsie said. That’s when the state began realizing that multi-lingual signs were needed.
“It’s dangerous out there,” said Ron Gerry, who said he has lived in the area for 65 years. “You can’t walk on the sandbar. The current takes you down once it gets running. I mean, it runs hard.”
“They’ve got a sign over there ... but it’s in English,” he added. “They should put it in Spanish and Chinese and couple other [languages].”
Despite the warning signs in the park, the sandbar at Conimicut Point is a lure for beachgoers, appearing at low tide like a gentle bridge that stretches almost to the lighthouse.
But its appearance is deceptive, concealing the drop-off just before the lighthouse and how quickly the tide turns and the undertow rips your feet off the sand.
Over the years, the swift currents have claimed the lives of children and those who’ve tried to save them. The last drowning was in 2013, when a 16-year-old boy from Providence was swept off the sandbar. The warning signs were posted in the area after a man drowned while trying to save two children there in 1998.
“It’s always been a dangerous area,” Picozzi said in an interview Monday. “We can’t tell people they can’t go there. They have a right to shore access. But the sandbar disappears with the tide.”
The water temperature at Conimicut Light was 71.8 degrees.
The search was suspended for some crews Sunday night around 10 p.m. while the Coast Guard Cutter Coho was brought in to continue searching the waters overnight.
Crews from the Coast Guard’s Castle Hill station in Newport returned early Monday to assist in the search, along with the Warwick police and fire departments and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, according to a Coast Guard tweet posted at 8:56 a.m. Monday.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
Amanda Milkovits can be reached at amanda.milkovits@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmandaMilkovits. Alexandra Chaidez can be reached at alexandra.chaidez@globe.com. Nick Stoico can be reached at nick.stoico@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickStoico.
"search" - Google News
June 21, 2021 at 08:49PM
https://ift.tt/3wKXq5i
Body of 10-year-old girl recovered in Narragansett Bay following search, officials say - The Boston Globe
"search" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2QWB6Sh
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Body of 10-year-old girl recovered in Narragansett Bay following search, officials say - The Boston Globe"
Post a Comment