Swimmer dies at Maryland's Assateague Island after leaders call for increased lifeguard staffing
The 18-year-old man was near the southern end of the Chinconteague Beach lot around 4:15 p.m. when a relative ran down the beach to tell a lifeguard that two swimmers were struggling in the water, according to the National Park Service (NPS).
One of the struggling swimmers was rescued, but the man was unconscious when he was pulled from the water.
Officials immediately started CPR, and the 18-year-old was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, NPS said.
The area where the man was swimming was nearly 150 yards from the lifeguarded zone of the beach, officials said. The 37-mile-long island is in Maryland and Virginia, though the Maryland district does not have lifeguards on duty, according to NPS.
The incident comes shortly after Maryland Senators Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks emphasized that the low lifeguard staffing at Assateague Island created a public safety risk.
"Drownings happen in minutes, and there is no substitute for attentive lifeguards specifically assigned to monitoring water safety at Assateague," the senators said in a joint letter. "Furthermore, NPS's current limited safety measures burden neighboring beach safety and emergency response efforts, stretching services too thin and making the entire area less safe for residents and visitors alike."
The senators urged the Trump administration to fill all vacant lifeguard positions at the park after federal budget cuts led to low staffing levels.
The administration laid off nearly 1,000 NPS employees in February as part of a cost-cutting effort. A hiring freeze was also in place through July 15.
"The reason there are no lifeguards at Assateague is honestly a symptom of the chaos and dysfunction that has been impacting this agency since the beginning of this administration," said Ed Stierli, the senior director of the Mid-Atlantic region National Parks Conservation Association.
In a statement to CBS News, NPS called the lifeguard shortage a "nationwide concern."
Assateague Island is known for strong rip currents. Lifeguards made 24 rescues on the island in 2024, according to the letter from the senators.
NPS officials recommend that swimmers take the following precautions:
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
an hour ago
- Washington Post
Trump's D.C. takeover
Politics Trump's D.C. takeover August 6, 2025 | 8:49 PM GMT A Confederate statue toppled and burned by protesters in D.C. will be repaired and reinstalled this fall, the National Park Service announced August 4.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Clark nabs $200M White House ballroom project
This story was originally published on Construction Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Construction Dive newsletter. Award: Ballroom Value: Contract undisclosed, total cost $200 million Location: Washington, D.C. Client: White House President Donald Trump announced the addition of a new ballroom to the White House in order to expand its ability to host larger events. Bethesda, Maryland-based Clark Construction will lead the team building the space, according to a July 31 White House news release. The project will cost $200 million, per the release, with funds gifted from Trump and other donors. The new White House State Ballroom will be 'substantially separated' from the main portion of the White House, but will be designed in the same architectural style as the rest of the structure. It will be built off of the East Wing, which was first constructed in 1902. It has seen multiple renovations and gained a second story in 1942, the release said. The ballroom will add about 90,000 total square feet of space with a seating capacity of 650 people, an increase from the 200-person seating capacity in the East Room of the White House, the release said. Critics said the construction of the sprawling facility on the White House grounds could be detrimental to historic preservation, according to the New York Times. 'It could do some harm to the property over all,' Richard Longstreth, American studies professor for George Washington University, told the Times. 'There aren't any checks and balances here, unfortunately.' Meanwhile, Jonathan Jarvis, former director of the National Park Service, cast doubt on the timeline for constructing the ballroom by the end of Trump's second term. 'You don't see one of those projects go that fast,' Jarvis told the Times. 'It'll be a rush to get it done.' In addition to Clark, Dallas-based AECOM was named leader of the project's engineering team and Washington, D.C.-based McCrery Architects will provide designs as architect on the project. Clark did not respond to Construction Dive's request for comment, and AECOM referred questions to the White House. The value of each firm's contract was not disclosed. 'I am honored that President Trump has entrusted me to help bring this beautiful and necessary renovation to The People's House, while preserving the elegance of its classical design and historical importance,' said Jim McCrery, CEO of McCrery Architects, in the release. The project is scheduled to begin construction in September and will finish before the end of Trump's second term, the release said. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Fox News
3 hours ago
- Fox News
Dems wanted to draw every Republican out of Maryland but now lambast Texas redistricting
Democrats nationwide are supporting Texas lawmakers who fled the state to block a GOP-led mid-cycle redistricting vote — a sharp contrast to their stance a decade ago, when Maryland Democrats faced little criticism for a plan that nearly wiped out every Republican congressional seat. After the Old Line State lost a congressional seat in the 2010 census, Annapolis was tasked with drawing new lines for the now-eight remaining, and then-Gov. Martin O'Malley ultimately testified about his eagerness to box-out the GOP. While overwhelmingly Democratic, Maryland features conservative strongholds at its geographic extremes — the Western Panhandle and Eastern Shore — and a smattering of Republican-majority communities throughout the more densely-populated center of the state. One of the newly-drawn seats — the 3rd District represented by then-Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md., — resembled what Fourth Circuit federal Judge Paul Niemeyer called a "broken-winged pterodactyl, lying prostrate across Maryland." Appearing to painstakingly connect some of the state's wealthier suburban communities while steering clear of inner-city Baltimore and the military installation at Fort George Meade, the district had the rare distinction of being one that a person would be unable to drive across. It began along I-795 northwest of Baltimore, curved east to form a thread-thin line across the city's northern border, drew in some northeastern suburbs before returning to linear form southward and again widening to encompass Inner Harbor and suburbs Halethorpe and Arbutus. At one point near US-1 in Elkridge, someone could walk for a few minutes and enter three different congressional districts, including the 3rd as it traversed Ducketts Lane. The "pterodactyl" then swung southwest to form its "body" north of Washington, D.C., before boomeranging into a different part of Howard County than it had just passed through — then shifting south again to trace the disconnected coastline of the Patapsco River and Chesapeake Bay. Tucked in between Elkridge and Glen Burnie, a distance of only a few miles, was a tendril of another congressional district, the 2nd, otherwise centered east of Baltimore City. Between Gibson Island and Annapolis, the "pterodactyl" 3rd crossed peninsulas and islands that precluded people from being able to traverse its entire length without crossing water, while narrowly separating the waterway from another district anchored closer to Washington. The third district drew nationwide infamy but was staunchly defended by Maryland Democrats at the time, as they sought to draw out any congressional Republican they could. Previously, Maryland Democrats shifted the boundaries of suburban D.C. districts in 2002 to help force out the last Beltway-area Republican congresswoman, Rep. Connie Morella. That area is now represented by Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md. The 2010 decennial redraw that created the 3rd also sought to boot the rest of the GOP delegation, and eventually succeeded in making it halfway. Then-Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., an eccentric octogenarian who leaned conservative and represented the Western Panhandle's rural, blue-collar expanse, saw his district shifted to include very liberal, white-collar D.C. suburbs along I-270. The entrenched now-99-year-old lost the following election to Democrat John Delaney by nearly the amount he won his previous race by, and moved far into West Virginia and settled off the grid. Rep. Andy Harris, the House Freedom Caucus chair and last remaining congressional Maryland Republican, remained — but not because his presence was missed. As the Atlantic reported at the time, Maryland Democrats drew up a "7-1" map after the 2010 census, in hopes of booting Bartlett, but also briefly theorized an "8-0" map that would have forced Harris out. The prospect of stretching safe Democratic districts too thin in hopes of swapping out the staunch conservative in the state's largest district by size proved too much of a risk, the outlet reported, noting concerns about even worse-looking district lines criss-crossing the Bay. But, after the latest redistricting that proverbially killed the "pterodactyl" and other squiggly districts scrutinized in the lawsuit, Harris said it was clear his 1st District was again becoming more competitive. "The Democrats can't defeat me at the ballot box so they're going to defeat me on the gerrymander vote, or at least they're going to attempt to," he told WYPR. In a 2017 deposition amid a lawsuit over Maryland's map, O'Malley admitted to seeking Bartlett's ouster or better: "That was my hope." He worked with Maryland's Democratic legislature to craft such a map. "It was my intent to create… a district where the people would be more likely to elect a Democrat than a Republican." Bartlett said at the time he wanted to work with O'Malley to create a fairer map that also avoided racial gerrymandering around Washington. The Washington Post repeatedly bashed the gerrymandered map, being one of the first to report the judge's "pterodactyl" moniker. "Democratic Party leaders went overboard in carving up territory so that Democratic votes would be deployed to maximum advantage, even if it meant stitching them into districts resembling violently spilled coffee," one 2012 editorial read. After leaving office and taking the reins at the DNC for a time, O'Malley struck a more critical tone against gerrymandering, telling a group at Boston College in 2017 that "we must, on a state-by-state basis push for an end to gerrymandering…" He also acknowledged his own history, remarking, "I held that redistricting pen in my own Democratic hand. I was convinced that we should use our political power to pass a map that was more favorable for the election of Democratic candidates."
