A 93-year-old woman died in what police described as an apparent drowning off Castle Island in South Boston Monday.
State police said the woman was part of a private adult day care program and was at Pleasure Bay Beach with a group for a supervised trip. She went into the water with two friends that were also part of the group, given instructions to stay in the shallow water. Around noon, the woman swam out into deeper water. Investigators say it appears she panicked when she realized how deep she was, and yelled before going under.
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Her friends and lifeguards rushed out and pulled her to shore, according to police. Lifeguards then performed CPR before Boston EMS arrived and took her to Boston Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will determine the official cause and manner of death. Police were investigating the case as an apparent drowning.
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The victim was not publicly identified as of Wednesday.
Second Home Adult Day Care in Watertown declined comment regarding the apparent drowning and the supervised trip to Pleasure Bay. The center is licensed by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, which said Wednesday it was investigating the incident.
Paul McGrath was at the beach as first responders arrived to help and captured the rescue efforts on his cellphone.
”The whole lifeguard staff was down there. They were great. They were fast. They were Johnny-on-the-spot,” he said.
The water is typically calm at Pleasure Bay, according to McGrath.
