A missing U.S. swimmer in the central Pacific Costa Rican beach town of Jacó has been identified as Patrol Officer Richard Jean-Georges, from Bristol, Rhode Island, in the United States.
Motivated by increased drownings that they perceived as preventable, a group of passionate people in this small, yet increasingly popular beach town have started their own nonprofit lifeguard program, Santa Teresa Lifeguards. They hope to not just save lives, but also to prevent dangerous situations by educating the public on water safety.
The missing U.S. man was swimming on Jacó’s main beach Sunday when a riptide pulled him out to sea, according to Red Cross spokesman Freddy Roman. The body was spotted more than 2 miles out to sea by a Aerial Vigilance Service search-and-rescue flight Friday morning.
The Red Cross usually sees a spike in requests for assistance during the holiday but this year’s death count alarmed officials even after the first weekend of the Easter vacation. The number of people the Red Cross attended to this year was more than twice that of last year.
The Prosecutor’s Office and the Judicial Investigation Police have opened an investigation into the causes of the Pura Vida Princess catamaran accident to determine whether or not the ship’s captain was negligent, Tatiana Vargas, spokeswoman for the Prosecutor’s Office confirmed to The Tico Times.
A U.S. retiree died in a surfing accident on Costa Rica's northwestern Pacific coast on Friday morning. Randy Giambalvo, 61, was surfing at Playa Avellanas in Santa Cruz, Guanacaste, when he struck his head on a rock and died.
