A young woman on vacation in Colombia made a big mistake when she jumped into the waters at White Watta beach in San Andres to retrieve her floating flip-flops.
She jumped too close to a docked boat with active rotating propellers, and the result was horrifying and deadly.
Natalia Andrea Larranaga Fajardo, 26, sustained serious injuries to her legs and lower back while in the water at the White Watta beach on November 27.
Witnesses filmed the horrible accident, and watched as the sea turned red.
Fajardo was from Cali, Columbia and was on vacation. She had seen some people she knew getting onto a boat and went to join them, but first jumped into the water to retrieve her beach shoes.
She was rescued by someone on a jet ski and rushed to a hospital. Multiple surgeries and transfusions couldn’t save her life and she died the next 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.
Unfortunately, accidents with boat propellers happen too often.
Earlier this year, the son of a Spanish billionaire owner of Banesco bank, Juan Alviarez, died in a propeller accident. The 31-year-old man dove into the water in the Florida Keys to save his fiancée, who had fallen into the water during a competition.
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 rescued safely.
In August this year, a Chicago mom lost both her feet after a 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 cut off both her feet, and she had to have both legs amputated. She survived the ordeal but has to live the rest of her life with prosthetic legs.
