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An American tourist was swept out to sea Saturday after falling overboard during a dinghy trip with her husband in the Bahamas, authorities said.
The woman, who has not been publicly named, fell into the ocean while she and her husband were travelling from Hope Town to Elbow Cay at about 7:30 p.m., the Royal Bahamas Police Force said in a news release on Sunday.
Police said the woman’s husband informed authorities that the couple were travelling in an eight-foot hard-bottomed dinghy when she fell off the vessel with the keys on her person, causing the boat’s engine to cut out.
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Her husband lost sight of her after she was carried away by strong currents and paddled the dinghy back to shore, according to the news release.
He arrived on shore at around 4 a.m. on Sunday and informed an individual of the incident. That person then called the police.
In response, police officers, along with members of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force and Hope Town fire and rescue services, initiated a search of the area.
The investigation is ongoing, the statement added.
A U.S. State Department Level 2 travel advisory states that Americans should travel with caution in the Bahamas, including in tourist centres where thefts and robberies do occur, and warns against moving between islands by boat.
“Watercraft may not be safe, and some operators are not licensed or insured,” the advisory says. “Watercraft operators sometimes ignore weather forecasts. Always follow local weather and marine alerts.”
The advisory also warns that boating is not well-regulated in the Bahamas and that injuries and deaths have occurred.
It further cautions against “swimming-related risks,” as well as sexual assaults and armed robberies.
This is not the first instance of a tourist vanishing in the region.
In June 2024, Taylor Casey, a 41-year-old yoga practitioner from Chicago, disappeared from a Bahaman yoga retreat. Her cell phone was found on the ocean floor days after she went missing
Casey’s mother, Colette Seymore, accused authorities of mishandling the investigation and raised suspicions over how retreat leaders were treating her daughter’s disappearance. The retreat had a “cultish” feel, she said, adding that she felt students were being “coerced to obey” retreat leaders, even if that meant holding back information about my child.”
Several shark attacks have also occurred in the Bahamas in recent years, including one involving a 10-year-old Maryland boy who was airlifted to hospital after he was bitten during an expedition in a shark tank at the Atlantis Bahamas resort, Paradise Island.
In 2022, an American tourist who was visiting the Bahamas on a cruise ship died after being attacked by a shark.
The passenger, who officials said was a 58-year-old woman, had been snorkelling with members of her family when a bull shark attacked her.
Currently, Canadian authorities advise tourists to exercise a high degree of caution when travelling in the Bahamas due to high crime rates, particularly in Nassau and Freeport.
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