A woman was killed in a bizarre incident at a South Carolina beach on Wednesday.
Tammy Perreault,63, was killed after an umbrella that was uprooted from the sand blew across the beach and struck her in her chest.
The umbrella that killed her had a pointy end which turned out to be deadly.
In 2016 another woman was killed by an umbrella at Virginia Beach.
Friends next time you are on the beach and feel a gust of wind be vigilant!
A woman was killed this week in Garden City, S.C., after a beach umbrella flew into the air and then struck her — a tragic reminder that beach umbrellas can quickly become dangerous projectiles.https://t.co/Fxgkrs4Ry5
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 13, 2022
The Guardian added more to the story:
A beachgoer was killed on Wednesday after a loose beach umbrella impaled her in the chest, authorities said.
The umbrella was blown from its anchoring by the wind around 12.40pm and hit Tammy Perreault while she was at a Garden City beach in South Carolina, the Horry county chief deputy coroner Tamara Willard told news outlets.
Perreault, 63, died about an hour later at the hospital from chest trauma, Willard said.
Beach umbrellas have a spiked end to help push them into the sand and their wide canopy allows them to get caught up in a strong wind if they are not anchored properly, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission said.
The federal agency estimates about 3,000 people are injured by beach umbrellas every year.
The US senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner of Virginia asked the safety agency to review safety rules for beach umbrellas and start a safety campaign after a Virginia woman was killed by an umbrella in 2016.
A woman was killed after being struck by an umbrella that was being blown in the wind at a South Carolina beach on Wednesday https://t.co/IRp3nBvUl1
— CNN (@CNN) August 13, 2022
A South Carolina woman was killed Wednesday after a loose beach umbrella got swept up in the wind and went airborne, impaling her in the chest. https://t.co/XgTDtyKARd
— AccuWeather (@accuweather) August 13, 2022
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