SPI drowning victim recovered
June 2, 2008 - 10:39PM
By Allen Essex, Valley Morning Star
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND - Personnel with the Cameron County park rangers, Coast Guard and other agencies found the body of a second weekend drowning victim late Monday.



Cameron County Chief Park Ranger Juan Mendoza said the body of a missing 19-year-old Brownsville man was located at about 7:15 p.m.



"They're trying to retrieve it from the water now," Mendoza said at about 7:30 p.m.



The swimmer disappeared in the Gulf of Mexico Sunday, he said.



Both incidents occurred around 6:30 p.m. Sunday near beach access point No. 5, said Cameron County Park Rangers Lt. Arnold Flores and Coast Guard Petty Officer David Cantu.



Flores said the Coast Guard was called in to assist the park rangers in the search of the 19-year-old swimmer. As the officers rushed to the scene people on the beach flagged them down. The officers believed they had reached the spot of the accident but later learned it was a separate incident.



A Coast Guard swimmer pulled a 34-year-old man from the surf, Cantu said.



The man was gasping for air after he was recovered from the water and the Coast Guard swimmer attempted to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation, Cantu said. The SPI Fire Department took the man to a landing pad where a Valley Air Care helicopter was waiting.



The man died en route to Valley Regional Medical Center in Brownsville. He was from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, Mendoza said.



The man's family was called to identify the body, the chief said.



The Coast Guard swimmer also gave a lifesaving float to three Good Samaritans who attempted to save the drowning man, he said.



In the meantime, park rangers and Coast Guard personnel rushed to the original call, Flores and Cantu said.



Searchers were unable to find the 19-year-old Sunday and the search continued Monday with the aid of a Coast Guard 47-foot motor lifeboat and vehicles on the shore.



A third missing swimmer was reported at 1:40 a.m. Sunday, but he was later found in a hotel bar, Cantu said.



All three incidents likely were due to rip currents, Cantu said.



Swimmers caught up in a rip tide or current should try to gradually angle their way toward the beach instead of fighting the powerful current, Cantu said.



Reporter Daisy Martinez contributed to this report.






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