Rip Current — Saipan, Guam

2015-01-02 · Saipan, Guam

Event narrative

A 6 year old girl and a 16 year old boy died after being swept out into the ocean by waves while on a hike. The two people were part of a group of six hikers who encounter rough water and waves. The group hiked along the southeast coast of Saiapn near the Forbidden Island Sanctuary.

The group of hikers included four males ages 32,29, 21, and 16 years of age and two girls 8 and 6 years of age.

The two girls were swept out to sea by waves. One of the men and the teenage boy jumped into the water to rescue them. The man was able to recover the girls and take them to an area of calmer water. The 16 year old boy, however encounter trouble and struggled to hold onto rocks within the water.

The man who rescued the girls began to perform CPR on one of them. He continued to perform CPR until the girl was airlifted to the Commonwealth Health Center by a Navy Helicopter. The six year old girl was later pronounced dead due to drowning and the eight year old girl had abrasions on her left knee.

A search was conducted for the 16 year old boy. The boy's body was found the next day near the area where the incident took place.

Wider weather episode

Strong currents caused the deaths of two people in Saiapn.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 560234. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.