A young woman jumped into the sea at a beach in San Andres, Colombia in order to retrieve some beach slippers she had dropped into the water. She was horrifyingly killed by boat propellers, while her friends on the boat watched in horror.
Natalia Andrea Larranaga Fajardo, 26, died from severe cuts and serious injuries on her legs and lower back while in the sea at the White Watta beach on November 27.
Witnesses filmed the gruesome accident, and people can be seen screaming in terror as the sea turned red.
Fajardo was from Cali, Columbia and was on vacation. She had noticed some people she knew getting onto a boat and decided to join them, after which she jumped into the water, too close to the boat’s propellers.
She was pulled out by someone on a jet ski and rushed to the hospital. Several surgeries were performed, as well as blood transfusions, but she couldn’t be saved and died the following day.
Colombian police investigated the incident and interviewed two crew members on the boat who were witnesses to the accident. The boat was carrying 24 tourists and two crew members.
San Andres law enforcement warned swimmers to stay clear of moving boats and alert crew members if they want to get into the water.
Earlier this year, Juan Alviarez, who was the son of a Spanish billionaire banker, Juan Rodriguez, the founder of Banesco. died in a similar way. The 31-year-old man dove in to save his fiancée, who had fallen into the water during a competition in the Florida Keys.
Alviarez was injured by a propeller immediately after jumping into the water and died from his injuries. His fiancé managed to avoid the deadly propellers and was pulled out of the water safely.
In August this year, a Chicago mother of two children lost both her feet after a similar boating accident. Lana Batochir, 34, was on a raft with her friends in Lake Michigan when a malfunctioning boat sucked the raft they were on underneath it. The boat’s propeller severed both her feet, and she had to get both legs amputated. She survived the ordeal but now has prosthetic legs.