Woman Drowns in Grand Turk waters, Civilian captures the haphazard ordeal

By Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, March 1, 2023 – Shocking footage is coming out of Grand Turk showing the apparent rescue of a 63-year old woman, comes less than two months after residents begged for the Government to speed up the reopening of the marine unit on the island.

Grand Turk welcomes over 1 million cruise visitors each year; thousands at a time pour into the island which continues to lack marine support and lifeguards along the beaches.

A video shared with our news team shows men, on Tuesday, on a kayak struggling to tow, from the rough ocean, a Caucasian woman who was unresponsive and listless.  She is dragged through the water, half in-half out until the men manage to reach the beach where at least one police officer and a crowd of people are waiting.

She is hurriedly placed on a backboard, possibly a gurney and despite the presence of uniformed personnel, it is a Caucasian woman in plain clothes, who begins to administer CPR, pumping her chest, desperately.

It is not clear if the woman was alive when she got to shore and further video shared by residents shows the body, huddled on the beach covered by a tarp, the crowd having already dispersed.

One woman filming incensed by what she called, “a lack of urgency” in what was obviously an emergency situation.  Another observer, to Magnetic Media said, “the Chukka guys did the best they could.  She was obese, looks like something happened out in the water.  She was heavy to get back to shore and her swim suit camouflaged her on a day when the surf was rough.”

Our news team has reached out to both the Police, who were on site with at least two members, and the Turks and Caicos Hotel and Tourism Association to find out what exactly happened.

While the TCHTA was unaware of the incident, following media queries police released this statement:  Around 11.01 a.m. yesterday, Tuesday, February 28th, 2023, officers of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force responded to a report of a drowning accident near a beach in the vicinity of Close Haul Road, Grand Turk.  Based on preliminary reports, a 63-year old woman went swimming at the beach and got into difficulties.  The woman was pronounced dead by a Medical Doctor at  11:53 am.  The RTCIPF are continuing investigations into the circumstances surrounding the death.”

The rescue operation was less than ideal, carried out by untrained civilians.  The disorganized effort to pull the visitor from the water was therefore unrehearsed, dangerous and lacked leadership.  For many, the booming popularity of the island coupled with the sluggish pace to respond to the urgent need for staffing of a full team of emergency personnel is recipe for disaster.