93-year-old woman dies in apparent drowning off Castle Island
BOSTON - A 93-year-old woman drowned while swimming off Castle Island Monday during an adult day care trip to the beach, Massachusetts State Police said.
The elderly woman was a client of Second Home adult day care program and was at Pleasure Bay as part of a "supervised trip" with other program members, police said in a statement.
She was told to stay in shallow water, police say, but accidentally swam into deeper water. She panicked and yelled for help before going under the surface, investigators said.
The woman's two friends swam to her and got her to shore with the help of lifeguards, who immediately performed CPR. She later died at Boston Medical Center.
Witnesses said first responders and lifeguards performed CPR for at least 15 minutes before she was rushed to the hospital.
"Keep her in your thoughts, you know, because you never know," said Paul McGrath, who was swimming near the woman and saw the commotion. "It was a little surreal, you know, confusion and sadness."
People who visit the beach often said they were shocked.
"I think it's just very unfortunate, I know if that happened to me, I would be in so much distress. My condolences out to her and her family," said Maryam Benouri.
"It's usually very calm, so just to hear that someone could drown something like this is actually kind of crazy," said Grace Lugo.
The Medical Examiner will determine an official cause of death.
Second Home declined to comment on the incident but said they were reaching out to the victim's family.