Teen dies doing drills with Canadian swim team in Gulf of Mexico, Florida sheriff says
A 17-year-old visiting the U.S. for a swim camp died while doing team drills in the Gulf of Mexico, according to Florida investigators.
William Zhang went missing around 9 a.m. Wednesday, March 6, in waters off Indian Shores, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. Indian Shores is about a 25-mile drive west of Tampa, on a barrier island.
“Zhang was visiting Florida from Quebec, Canada, with his swim team,” the sheriff’s office said.
“Zhang and several other swim team members were swimming in the Gulf of Mexico, conducting swimming drills. It was discovered Zhang did not return to shore at the end of the drills.”
The initial 911 call reported Zhang “was carried offshore,” which typically occurs when deadly rip currents develop along a beach.
An underwater search and recovery team located his body about 5:23 p.m., the sheriff’s office said. A cause of death has not been released.
“The incident does not appear suspicious in nature,” the sheriff’s office said.
“The swim coaches advised that they checked for riptides or hazards before the swimmers entered the water.”
Witness Rick Ross told the Tampa Bay Times about 10 boys and girls were in the water when he noticed one boy’s head “bobbing in the water about 200 yards from shore.” The boy vanished as someone on a surf board was trying to reach him.
Zhang attended Montreal’s Collège Notre-Dame and was on the school’s swim team, CTV News Montreal reports.
Spring break for the private high school is March 4 through March 8, according to the school calendar.
Rip currents are narrow channels of powerful currents that travel away from shore as fast as 8 feet per second, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports.
“Drowning deaths occur when people, pulled away from the shoreline, are unable to keep themselves afloat and swim to shore. This may be due to any combination of fear, panic, exhaustion, or lack of swimming skills.” NOAA says.
“Once people become tired, they can easily go under without flotation to hold onto.”
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