"When the waves start to billow you can't see anything. It comes one wave, next wave, next wave. At that point, there's no chance to get out of it."
A 41-year old bodysurfer who was pulled unconscious out of Laguna’s South Crescent Bay on Wednesday has died. According to reports, on-duty lifeguards got the man to shore, at around 4:20 in the afternoon, and performed CPR before transporting him to Mission Hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
Justin Anand Shahani, per the Orange County Sheriff Department, was a local.
Eric Zueger, who was on the beach and witnessed, shared, “They went in when the waves died down from the bigger waves to the smaller waves. When the waves start to billow you can’t see anything. It comes one wave, next wave, next wave. At that point, there’s no chance to get out of it.”
It has been a wild summer of swell, in Southern California, a seemingly endless pulse, and while surfers have thrilled, others have suffered the greatest tragedy. Shahani was the third fatality this season in Laguna Beach alone. In June, a 5-year-old girl was swept out to sea at Treasure Island Beach, her body found days later about three miles away. Then, just weeks ago, a swimmer disappeared also off Crescent Bay, only to be found an hour later by the Marine Safety dive team. He, too, was transported to Mission Hospital and pronounced dead.
The California Water Safety Commission reports that summer is generally the deadliest time with 48% of all drowning deaths occurring between June and August. Surfers are encouraged to keep an extra eye out, this weekend, with another large south on the way.