An Indiana woman drowned while trying to save her girlfriend from a riptide on what was supposed to be a getaway trip to Puerto Rico.
The body of Cimone Dawson, 22, was recovered in San Juan Monday — nearly 24 hours after she vanished beneath the waves, the US Coast Guard announced.
Dawson had been visiting the island with friends, “of which two of them got caught with her in the strong rip currents affecting the area, Sunday night,” the agency said.
Cimone Dawson drowned during a trip to Puerto Rico that she took with her girlfriend and friends. Legacy.comDawson’s friends were rescued by bystanders, but the woman was swept away.
Loved ones say she died trying to save her girlfriend who was stuck in a rip current.
“That’s just the type of person she was,” Dawson’s cousin, Siajhanai Wean, told Fox 12.
“Even if I was on that beach and Cimone, seeing her loved one struggling, I couldn’t even get Cimone not to go back into the water.”
The US Coast Guard launched an extensive search for Dawson after a bystander “heard screaming at the beach” around 6:30 p.m. Sunday.
Several aircraft, helicopters and boats participated in the search.
Dawson (right) drowned trying to save her girlfriend from a riptide, family said. FOX 12
Dawson was an avid traveler with a love for Puerto Rico. GoFundMeThe couple was visiting San Juan to celebrate a birthday with friends when the tragedy occurred.
Dawson was an avid traveler, and Puerto Rico was one of her favorite spots, her loved ones said.
“I felt sick to my stomach. I felt like there were so many words that I wish I could have said,” one of Dawson’s cousins said. “I felt like I couldn’t breathe.”
