MALPEQUE, P.E.I. - What started out as family get together to celebrate Canada Day on Sunday afternoon at Cabot Beach Provincial Park, could have ended tragically for Jennifer Hubley’s daughter Hannah Crossman and her boyfriend Kurtis Paula.
The Summerside couple were out on a sandbar when they quickly got caught in a riptide and pulled out from Malpeque Bay.
“We started out having the greatest Canada Day celebrations and then my granddaughter turns to me and says, ‘mommy fall,” recounted Hubley, who was on the shore looking after the two-year-old. She continued, “Within minutes everything turned into a freak disaster.”
A rip current is a powerful, narrow channel of fast-flowing water which moves directly away from the shore and can occur at any beach or lake with breaking waves.
“I remember the two of them out there splashing and the next thing the lifeguards are rushing out on their paddles. I couldn’t believe it. Everything goes through your mind at that moment. I was watching them suffering and I didn’t know what to do."
Another witness, Travis Gallant, was on the ‘Go Deep’ boat owned by Andrew Williams.
Gallant said, “There were two lifeguards who put their lives on the line. There was one boat near them at the time, and we gave them blankets and towels to heat them up. Chris Ross and my dad, Gerry Gallant, pulled them up out of the water.
“My dad went for the lifeguard and she told him to grab the other girl first. She put her life on the line again because she already swam out and grabbed the girl’s boyfriend. They both were freezing cold. If they were in the sea for even two more minutes they would have fainted and died."
Hubley added, “It was such an ordeal. They were both taken to Prince County Hospital in Summerside and had to strip down in case of hypothermia to keep warm.”
In hospital, Crossman and Paula were checked to see if they had water on their lungs and salt in their blood. They were later discharged that evening, with a precaution of pneumonia.
“When I talked to Hannah she said they thought it was just waves and they could swim back, but the current got stronger and started ripping them out further and further. Hannah said that she felt like ‘giving up.’
“I was in tears, but they both survived thanks to the lifeguards on duty. I really believe too that my dad above was looking out for them,” said Hubley.
She ended with, “You never think this will happen to you, it’s scary but the positive thing is that they survived.”
Factbox
Tips to remember when encountering a riptide:
- Exit in shallow water when there’s a pull from the current
- Remain calm or call for help if you are a poor swimmer
- To exit a riptide swim out of – and not against – it and parallel to the shore to escape the current
- Conserve energy when necessary
- Swim diagonally towards shore to minimize the chance of entering again
- Remember rip tides can happen at any moment.
