An umbrella that was loose popped out of the sand and flew through the air at a beach in Massachusetts, impaling a 13-year-old boy.
The accident took place at Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester on Aug. 9.
“Before anybody could grab it, it just kind of rolled over, and the kid was standing in the way on the beach. He couldn’t get out of the way.”
The end of the umbrella was stuck into the boy’s shoulder, Carson said, causing him to bleed and prompting those around him to apply a tourniquet.
Some people started screaming when the umbrella impaled the boy, who was visiting from Florida.
“All I heard was a woman scream and then the umbrella went flying and then he was on the ground lying down,” said Brandon Phillips, another witness. “And then his mom was like, ‘Get the lifeguard, get the lifeguard,’ so everyone was freaking out.”
“These things, unfortunately, happen all of the time, people don’t dig them down firmly and they can impale you, they can hurt you so, hopefully, it’s a lesson for people at the beach to seriously dig their umbrella poles in the ground so they don’t come out and hurt anybody,” added Mike Marnoto, who also witnessed what happened.
Gloucester emergency medical technicians carried the boy off the beach and he was taken to Beverly Hospital.
Captain Nick Ouellette of the fire department told Boston 25 that it was “a freak accident.”
“When we heard it come over the radio we kind of did a double-take because we confirmed he was in fact reportedly impaled by a beach umbrella,” Ouellette told WHDH. “It’s a pretty rare event around here even with the number of beaches we have, and the amount of people we have visit our beaches every year, it’s not a common occurrence.”
Experts said that cheaper umbrella shouldn’t be used, especially if it’s windy outside.
People should bury the umbrella at least 16 inches down, using a shovel or rocking it back and forth for a while.
If it is windy, people can tilt the umbrella into the wind.
“If you tilt the umbrella into the wind, it will prevent a gust from getting underneath the umbrella and sweeping the umbrella away,” Waters said.