A teenage girl who drowned Saturday in Santa Monica after reportedly being caught in a rip current was an honors student and outstanding athlete at Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School.
ABC 7 reported Wednesday night that the victim was 17-year-old Thuy Tran, who was overtaken by a wave by working on a cleanup effort at Santa Monica Beach. The County Coroner’s told the station the girl died at the hospital on Sunday and that drowning was the cause of death.
LAUSD is “deeply saddened” by Boyle Heights student’s accidental drowning https://t.co/872iCONmVq pic.twitter.com/mMyUp1S0Wz
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) March 31, 2016
Thuy was a Senior at Bravo, had been accepted at Stanford University for admission in the Fall and was a candidate for Valedictorian. She was also in the school’s cross country team, which will wear a maroon ribbon in her memory at future meets, according to a team member who asked not to be identified.
Several Bravo students told BHB that grief counselors were available to speak to students on campus when they returned to class on Tuesday after the Spring break. LAUSD released a statement on Thursday saying the counselors would remain on campus all week.
“The L.A. Unified family is deeply saddened by the accidental drowning of a Bravo Medical Magnet High School student during a beach cleanup project this weekend,” LAUD Superintendent Michelle King said in the statement. “Our hearts go out to the relatives and friends of this exceptional young woman, and to the entire school community.”
According to published news reports, the teen girl was fully dressed and had only stepped a few feet into the water near the Santa Monica pier shortly after noon on Saturday when she was swept away by the current. The Santa Monica Lookout reported that the girl was submerged almost an hour before she could be lifted from the water by lifeguards, who were guided to her by a helicopter.
The girl was rushed in critical condition to UCLA Health Center-Santa Monica where she later died.
An ocean specialist with the Los Angeles County Fire Department told the newspaper that the fact that the girl was fully clothed and that she was a non-swimmer contributed to her drowning.
Photo above: Thuy Tran was a member of the Bravo cross country team. Twitter photo from Highland Park Running Club.
