GREAT BAY--St. Maarten Academy PSVE student Felicia Williams of Jamaican descent drowned in Great Bay following an incident involving a Jet Ski around 5:15pm on Sunday.
A man approximately 36 years, believed to be from Guyana, staying in the Fort William area hired a Jet Ski for a single user from a Jet Ski hire company on the beach near a well-known hotel. He filled in the paperwork and set off wearing an issued lifejacket. He then picked up two girls from the beach, Williams and her friend S.B., both approximately 16 years.
A witness who did not give his name said the Jet Ski had flipped when it was about 200 yards from the shore and the riders had been tossed into the sea. People could be seen waving from the sea for help. The man managed to get back onto the Jet Ski and the girl S.B. was rescued by a second Jet Ski that had been launched from the shore to assist.
The third person on the Jet Ski, Williams, went missing. It later transpired that she did not know how to swim and that she had not been wearing a lifejacket.
The Coast Guard and other boats joined the search, but no trace of the missing girl was found.
The search was set to continue on through the night until Sheriff Security company searchers in their boat found Williams' body on the rocks by Little Divi Hotel, approximately 500 yards away from the scene of the incident, around 10:00pm.
The man who had hired the Jet Ski was arrested for further investigations to be made into how the incident had occurred.
Family of the dead teenager were at the scene. A man who said he was her stepfather was totally distraught, as were several uncles and cousins. Her sister of approximately 6 years was comforted by family.
A cousin said to The Daily Herald, "Her mother, how can we tell her mother? She is gone back to Jamaica right this week to bury her aunt and now this. This man is a big man. Why is he so stupid to take them on a Jet Ski with no lifejacket? They are children, they know no better, but he is a big man. I wish they would put me by him right now!"
Source: http://www.thedailyherald.com/islands/1-islands-news/15327-teenager-drowns-in-jet-ski-incident.html
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