FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A woman who went missing in the water after she took off her life vest and either fell or jumped off a Yamaha watercraft was located and transported to the hospital, officials said.
Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue units responded to the scene, off 4060 Galt Ocean Drive in Fort Lauderdale, Thursday afternoon.
According to witnesses and detectives, the woman did not resurface after she jumped in the water.
Rescue units were dispatched to the scene, where they found the woman underwater in cardiac arrest.
“Respond to 4060 Galt Ocean Drive, open water. They saw a renter jump from the Jet Ski, and they cannot find her. It’s been 10 minutes, and she’s under the water. Everyone is trying to find her,” a dispatcher said.
Cellphone video recorded by a witness shows rescue boats circling an area on the beach.
“I got three Jet Skis that are out there working, and I got a guy with binoculars. The last point is around those three Jet Skiers,” another dispatch call said.
Witnesses said the woman wasn’t too far from shore, only 50 to 60 feet out into the ocean.
“I don’t know if she was dizzy, she got drowsy, a wave took her. Those guys ran,” said Vincent Thompson. “One guy ran and about five minutes later, he kept going up and down to the beach, and he screamed, ‘Call the Coast Guard.’ Two of them got on the Jet Skis, and they could not find her.”
Thompson said he noticed something strange moments before the incident occurred.
“She had a heavy backpack. That’s what it looked like; that’s what they said, too. It was a backpack, and it was really, really heavy,” said Thompson.
“I got binoculars, and I was looking out there, and we saw something orange floating there, but you don’t know,” said Steve Mann.
But that turned out not to be the missing woman.
“They lost her. They lost eyes on her. There is a Jet Ski out there right now searching,” a first responder said in radio transmissions.
But several minutes later, beachgoers were relieved to learn rescue crews had found the missing woman.
“Target in the water, doing the surface rescue,” a first responder said in radio transmissions.
“One of the signals, they had her, brought her out, and we could see them doing CPR on her on the boat,” said Mann.
“Everybody’s here with their families, their kids, enjoying themselves on vacation. It’s a terrible, terrible scene to see. Nobody wants to see something like that,” said Thompson.
Paramedics transported the patient to Holy Cross Health Fort Lauderdale. As of late Thursday night, officials have not provided an update about her condition.
7Skyforce hovered over the hospital when the woman arrived in the ambulance.
Investigators have not identified the woman, and they have not specified how long she was underwater.
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