OCEAN ISLE BEACH, N.C. — What was planned as a fun school trip, turned into a tragedy for a Triad family.
On Sunday, July 14 a Reynolds High School student drowned at Ocean Isle Beach. Seventeen-year-old Leanne Torio was on the school's robotics team.
The group was in Ocean Isle for a school trip. During a break from studying, Torio took a swim but got caught in a rip current and tragically drowned.
WFMY News 2's Joseph Leonard spoke with someone who witnessed the scary scene as it happened.
“There were several others out there and everyone made like a human chain. Because I guess the riptide was so bad and they couldn't get in to pull everybody back in,” said LeAnn Biggs, who was visiting from West Virginia. "She was completely lifeless. And about that time, I think almost everybody on the beach just went and just took a big gasp, because, you know, that's not what any of us were expecting."
Biggs said a young man risked his own life and jumped into the rip current to retrieve the teenage girl. She said at first he thought she was just floating in the ocean. However, when he brought her ashore, he was heartbroken that she couldn’t be saved.
"It's been it's been very traumatic, for everybody and especially him. I mean, it's hard for anybody to see someone brought lifeless out of the ocean like that. But for a teenager who's close in age to the young lady to pinky. It's just - it's something that's very hard and it's going to be ingrained in him, in his brain for you know, forever.”
Biggs has been texting with Torio's mom since this happened. As someone with three teenagers of her own, she said this hits close to home.
“I just couldn't imagine, like, I just keep thinking, like, you think, how does this happen? Like, it's just something that no mother ever wants to have to, to face or to deal with or to even think about happening to your own kids,” Biggs said.
The school's principal, Calvin Freeman, provided the following statement:
"...When one student was rescued, she was unresponsive, and first responders worked immediately to resuscitate her. It is my sad duty to let you know that she did not survive. This is a tragic situation, and as you can imagine, other members of the team are taking the news hard."
The school said when the group returned on Monday, crisis team members were at the school to counsel them.
"I am heartbroken by this tragic news," Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Superintendent Tricia McManus added. "I want the family, and our Reynolds students and staff to know that our district will provide any support they need at this incredibly difficult time. Our prayers are with all of you, and we mourn this loss with you."
The mayor of Ocean Isle Beach said the girl was caught in the rip current with two other teens who were rescued.
The teen girl's death is one of two that have happened in recent days on the North Carolina coast. Surf City Fire Department said a 57-year-old from Virginia, identified as Minh Ha Nguyen, died Sunday after getting caught in a rip current at Surf City Beach.
The National Weather Service has reported hundreds of rip current rescues along our coast since the beginning of July - nearly 200 rescues happened during the Fourth of July holiday.