22-Year-Old Woman Tragically Loses Legs Following Freak Accident In The Bahamas
A young woman celebrating her summa cum laude college graduation experienced a traumatic freak accident in The Bahamas that resulted in her legs being severed.
When the boating incident occurred on May 12, Hannah Smith, 22, was allegedly on the first day of her trip. According to the Daily Mail, she and a friend, Brooklyn Pitre, were on a celebratory Carnival Sunrise cruise after graduating. The two were returning to the ship via a pontoon ferry after doing off-ship excursions. As the small boat docked around 3:55 p.m. at Nassau Cruise Port, Hannah found herself in the water. The ferry's propellers reportedly dragged the young woman under the water, then partially severed her legs and surrounded her in blood. Two of the boat's female passengers were able to pull Hannah out of the water, and she went to a local hospital.
Two days later, the Memphis, Tennessee, native was transferred to a hospital back in the United States for emergency surgery. Updates provided by her family (shared on GoFundMe) note that Hannah has undergone over 10 surgeries in the two and a half weeks following the boating incident. Though she suffered some medical setbacks and doctors performed extensive procedures, the recent graduate has been pulling through.
It remains unclear how exactly Hannah ended up in the water, as sources differ. The pontoon ferry's captain allegedly told local authorities that Hannah jumped into the water. Police claim that alcohol consumption possibly played a role in the tragic incident. However, the recent graduate's parents, Tracy and Marvin Smith, deny that their daughter was inebriated.
The recent graduate and Delta Sigma Theta sorority member studied communications and graphic design at Miles College, a Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) institution in Alabama. A family member has created a GoFundMe to aid Hannah with her medical costs and recovery. At the beginning of the fundraiser's description, it describes Hannah as a young woman who is 'love' and 'light.'
'This boating accident will not define your life,' declared Hannah's family member in the GoFundMe's description. 'We need you to have many more birthdays, more holidays, more life experiences… While on what was supposed to be a beautiful trip to the Bahamas, Hannah was involved in a tragic accident that nearly claimed her life. Through the grace of God, she's still with us, but the road ahead is long, filled with surgeries, recovery, and overwhelming medical costs.'
As of this reporting, the fundraiser has received over 1,200 donations. It's currently at over $50,500 of its $250,000 goal. A May 29 update on Hannah's well-being said, 'This journey is taking a physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual toll. Please keep her lifted in your thoughts and prayers. She is fighting!!!'
In late March, the State Department updated its travel advisory for Americans traveling to The Bahamas. The alert included a notice regarding crime, swimming-related risks, and traveling with firearms and ammunition on the Caribbean island.The post 22-Year-Old Woman Tragically Loses Legs Following Freak Accident In The Bahamas appeared first on Travel Noire.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
Wisconsin man gets 35 years for shooting family, killing sister over dirty dishes
He was told to do the dishes — now he will be doing 35 years. A Wisconsin man murdered his sister and shot his parents after he got 'fed up' when they told him to do the dishes, claiming he'd been bullied for years over being unemployed. Gerardo Jimenez-Rico, 32, admitted he opened fire inside the family's Milwaukee home on Jan. 22, just hours after they returned from a monthlong vacation to Mexico without him. Advertisement 4 Jocelyn Jimenez, 22, was fatally shot by her brother inside the family's Milwaukee home on Jan. 22, just hours after returning from a trip to Mexico. Witkowiak Funeral Home A Milwaukee County judge sentenced him Tuesday to 35 years in prison and 19 years of supervised release after he pleaded guilty last month to first-degree reckless homicide, attempted second-degree intentional homicide and first-degree reckless injury, court records show. Jimenez-Rico told police he didn't go on the trip because he couldn't afford it and said his family often 'gangs up on him because he is unemployed and he feels they bully him.' Advertisement After they returned, his father confronted him about dirty dishes piling up in the sink. Jimenez-Rico said the plumbing was backed up, but the fight escalated when his father told him to move out and his sister, 22-year-old Jocelyn Jimenez, chimed in to agree. 4 Gerardo Jimenez-Rico, 32, told police he 'got fed up' after years of being bullied by his family over being unemployed. Milwaukee Police That's when he pulled a gun from his waistband and opened fire, striking his father first, then shooting his sister. He told police that his sister had grabbed a knife so he shot her 'to prevent getting stabbed,' according to court records. An autopsy showed she was shot four times in the chest, back, lungs and arm — and died at the scene. Advertisement Jimenez-Rico also shot his mother as she entered the room, later telling investigators he 'did not intend' to and 'could not explain why.' 4 Police swarmed the Milwaukee home after Gerardo Jimenez-Rico shot his sister and parents in a burst of domestic violence. FOX6 News Milwaukee Both parents survived the attack and were hospitalized with gunshot wounds. Hours later, Jimenez-Rico walked into a Milwaukee police station and confessed. Advertisement Jocelyn was remembered in her obituary as a devoted mother, daughter and fiancée. She leaves behind a 3-year-old daughter, Melanie, who 'was her entire world.' Jocelyn had dreams of becoming a nurse, her family wrote. 4 Jocelyn was remembered as a devoted mother and fiancée. Her 3-year-old daughter, Melanie, 'was her entire world,' her family wrote. GofundMe A GoFundMe started by her fiancé has raised more than $18,700 to help support the child and family.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
‘A moral obligation to protest': LA residents on being thrust into chaos
As thousands of military personnel descended on Los Angeles under the orders of Donald Trump and their city was thrust into the center of a political crisis, Angelenos have largely voiced their support for the immigrant community and resistance to the administration targeting them. 'When you are rounding up people with no criminal record while they are at their jobs, it is very clear that the cruelty is indeed the point,' said Alex Berg, 42. 'As Americans, we have a constitutionally protected right to protest. As Angelenos, we have a moral obligation to protest Ice raids on members of our community,' he added. Predominantly peaceful protests, which erupted after federal agents swept into workplaces, immigration hearings and elementary schools last week, were met with an unprecedented and heavy-handed response from the president, in a move the state's governor, Gavin Newsom, has called 'unlawful'. Related: 'Snatching off the streets': Ice targets churches, car washes and workplaces Hundreds of demonstrators have been arrested or detained in the past week. Officers and troops in tactical gear have relied on chemical irritants, fired rounds of 'less-lethal' projectiles and deployed flash-bang grenades in attempts to squash the unrest. Scores of armored vehicles have been crowded into a small part of the vast city's downtown in a striking show of force. Berg believes the escalation was by design, 'to chill vocal opposition to the administration', he said. 'They cannot remove our constitutionally protected right to protest through the law, but they can certainly make us think twice about how badly we're willing to deal with the consequences of protesting.' While the marches mostly remained nonviolent, dramatic images of burning cars and graffitied buildings have been splayed across the internet and on social media sites, and Trump has used them to validate his orders. In a speech on Tuesday, the president promised he would 'liberate Los Angeles', and, calling the protesters 'animals', he made a baseless claim that the demonstrations were part of a 'foreign invasion'. Many residents, however, have challenged the president's descriptions of their city's demonstrations. 'The protesters have my full support,' said William Rosencrans, a 57-year-old stonemason, who called the moves by the administration cruel and chaotic. 'Trump and his allies are using tactics shared by every other authoritarian regime and they must be resisted at all costs and, ultimately, by any means necessary if the country is to be saved.' Several people echoed these calls. Some described scenes they said felt reminiscent of dystopian movies; large armored vehicles on city streets driven by masked men and women, protesters detained and immigrants taken from their jobs and homes. 'It feels like roving federal kidnap gangs disappearing people off of the streets and the people disappearing are our friends, our neighbors, the people who care for our kids and our homes, and the people that greet us at the shops where we buy the things that make living possible,' said Lon Grabowski, 65, a systems architect who lives in the Hancock Park area of LA. 'The effect the raids have on the city and the people in it is purely negative.' Celeste Perry felt Trump's mass deportation agenda was part of a ploy. 'Last year Republicans blocked meaningful immigration reform per Trump's instructions to Speaker Mike Johnson. Trump desperately needed to keep immigration his central issue for his campaign,' she said. 'The raids are performance to sell his base on the lie that all their troubles should be blamed on immigrants.' But for many Angelenos life goes on as normal, with people carrying out their lives far from the smoke-filled scenes and skirmishes that are confined to just a few blocks. 'When I walk around downtown Los Angeles – where I live – it's a quiet, sunny day with light traffic, people walking dogs, meeting friends for lunch, or getting coffee,' Tom Mott, 58, said. 'All the rhetoric about the city being 'on fire' or Mayor Bass and Governor Newsom being on the side of 'criminals' is puffed-up nonsense.' But even in a county where votes were overwhelmingly cast against Trump (he got just over 30% in Los Angeles in 2024) there are some residents who support his actions. David Oddone, 46, said he thought sending in reinforcements for local police 'was smart and necessary'. 'I am glad it was ordered so quickly to secure the city,' he said. Oddone blamed California's leaders for the 'negative impact on people that created families here and are now forced to leave', but added that deportations were a 'necessary step to protect citizens and resources that are already scarce in Los Angeles and California'. The raids are performance to sell his base on the lie that all their troubles should be blamed on immigrants Celeste Perry With or without local support, Trump has been clear that he intends to keep his troops in the state, even as California leaders mount an opposition. The state filed a lawsuit on Monday challenging the president's move to take over the state national guard. Newsom, California's governor, has been among those calling for continued resistance to the administration. 'If some of us can be snatched off the streets without a warrant based only on suspicion or skin color, then none of us are safe,' he said in a speech this week. 'Authoritarian regimes begin by targeting people who are least able to defend themselves. But they do not stop there.' Mott called the raids unnecessary and pointed to agreements between Republicans and Democrats that there was a need for 'sensible immigration reform'. 'Instead, we have theatrics like this,' he said. 'Two thousand national guardsmen to do what, exactly? Guarding the building where they're detaining a guy Ice nabbed who was selling cantaloupe on the corner?'
Chicago Tribune
6 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Today in Chicago History: Divvy debuts downtown
Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on June 28, according to the Tribune's archives. Is an important event missing from this date? Email us. Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago) Vintage Chicago Tribune: Chicago Cubs who have hit for the cycle1950: The Chicago Cubs' Roy Smalley hit for the cycle against the St. Louis Cardinals. Vintage Chicago Tribune: Pelé, Hamm, Beckham, Rapinoe, Messi and more. When soccer's big names came to play1998: With hundreds of young fans screaming her name, Mia Hamm notched her eighth career hat trick — three goals in a 20-minute span — when the United States women's national team defeated Germany 4-2 at Soldier Field. 2010: Decades after torture allegations were first leveled against former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge's 'Midnight Crew,' a federal jury convicted him on all three counts of obstruction of justice and perjury for lying in a lawsuit about the torture of suspects in attempts to obtain confessions. He was sentenced to prison and released in 2014. Burge died in 2018. Also in 2010: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Chicago's gun ban was 'unenforceable,' stating Americans nationwide have a constitutional right to have a handgun at home for self-defense, even in cities which until then had outlawed handguns. Yet, the court stopped short of overturning the ban. 2013: Divvy began its bicycle-sharing program in Chicago. Community group retrieves over 60 Divvy bikes from Lake Michigan since JuneThere were some initial technical glitches, but its operations expanded from 68 docking stations to a presence in every city ward. 2019: Cookie Monster from 'Sesame Street' visited the Art Institute of Chicago, Wrigley Field, The Bean and Navy Pier to celebrate the program's 50th anniversary. 'I'm excited to have Cookie Monster in Chicago, going to all the landmarks and taking pictures. … My Chicago home and my 'Sesame' work life are coming together,' said Highland Park resident David Rudman, puppeteer of Cookie Monster for 20 years. Also in 2019: Gov. JB Pritzker signed the Illinois Gaming Act into law, looking to bring in an additional $350 million in annual state revenue, and opening the door to sports wagering and other growth opportunities for gambling operators. Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago's past.
