Decatur woman drowns off St. Simons

BRUNSWICK - An Atlanta-area woman drowned Monday night despite the frantic efforts of a longtime friend to keep her afloat after both were caught in a strong current off East Beach on St. Simons Island.

Aisha Simmons, 32, of Decatur, was attempting to wade ashore from a sandbar at Gould's Inlet about 7 p.m. when she disappeared under the water, her friend, Shamanda Smith told the Times-Union Tuesday.

Smith, 27, also of Decatur, was walking with Simmons when it happened. The two women had come to St. Simons Island because they wanted to spend the Labor Day holiday at the beach, Smith said.

"She couldn't swim. We were just walking along and I guess she stepped in a hole. All of a sudden she went down and it was like the undertow took her," Smith said while sobbing uncontrollably.

Times-Union

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Simmons and Smith managed to grab hold of each other. Screaming for help, they tried to make it to shore, she said.

"I had her and we tried to dog-paddle back but the current was too strong," Smith said.

The more they struggled, the more exhausted they became, she said.

"She said she was tired, and couldn't hold on anymore. I was saying 'Yes, you can. We can make it. We're almost there. Just hang on an little more.' I was yelling for help and praying to hold on," Smith said.

But Simmons slipped out of Smith's grasp and sank.

A man on the beach heard her screams and came to help but they couldn't find Simmons, Smith said.

Notified by Glynn County emergency dispatchers of a 911 call of a drowning, the U.S. Coast Guard launched a search helicopter and rescue boat at 7:18 p.m.

Rangers with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources quickly joined the water search for Simmons.

The helicopter crew saw Simmons floating and notified the rescue boat crew, which pulled Simmons from the water about 8:30 p.m.. Simmons was unresponsive and the crew immediately began cardiopulmonary resuscitation in an effort to revive her, said Capt. Stephen Adams of DNR's coastal law enforcement division based in Brunswick.

The crew ferried her to Golden Isles Marina off the F.J. Torras Causeway, where she was taken by ambulance to the hospital, Adams said.

Simmons, died at 10:02 p.m. at Southeast Georgia Health System's Brunswick hospital, Glynn County Coroner Jimmy Durden said.

Preliminary investigation revealed she drowned accidentally, but an autopsy was scheduled Tuesday, Durden said.

The water in the area where the drowning occurred is about 20 feet deep, Adams estimated.