A Louisiana teen died over the weekend in waters off Grand Isle while swimming with family members, two of whom were also injured in the strong rip currents.
The drowning victim was identified on Tuesday by the Jefferson Parish coroner as 17-year-old Oscar Gustavo Rivera Aguilar.
Grand Isle Police Chief Laine Landry told local reporters that officers were called Sunday to the Andy P. Valence Memorial Bridge, which takes you into the island, and searched for more than an hour before finding Aguilar’s body.
A 15-year-old boy and a 47-year-old woman, both relatives of the teen, were also rescued from the water. The younger teen was airlifted to a hospital in New Orleans while the woman was hospitalized in the Grand Isle area.
Authorities believe that all three family members got swept up in powerful riptides and were unable to free themselves. They were part of a large family that traveled to the area for the Memorial Day weekend to fish and swim, Landry told The Times-Picayune / The New Orleans Advocate.
“On a normal day it’s safe to swim but conditions in the last few days have been conducive to strong undertows and rip currents, with strong southerly winds and two-foot tides,” Landry said.
Louisiana saw dozens and dozens of visitors for Memorial Day, which also marked the second weekend of its first phase of reopening amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Statewide, more than 37,000 people have been infected with COVID-19 — including 2,560 who have died of the illness.
With News Wire Services