Family needs help to bring 12-year-old boy who drowned near Pensacola back to Atlanta

A 12-year-old from Georgia who was caught in a rip current during a trip to Florida has died a week later due to his injuries, his family and friends said.

Rashad Williams, who was from Atlanta, was swept up in a rip current at Johnson Beach National Seashore near Pensacola, Florida, on Thursday, April 6, a GoFundMe for the boy said.

Williams and his friend, 14-year-old Braylon Jones, got stuck in the riptide and two other visitors from Atlanta, 16-year-old Bryce Brooks and Charles Johnson, went into the water to help the boys, FOX 5 and McClatchy News reported.

Brooks and Johnson drowned trying to help rescue the two boys.

Braylon Jones was pulled to shore by two people before anyone was able to spot Williams in the rip current, 11 Alive reported. When they located Williams, he was unresponsive.

“It was a lot of screaming, a lot of crying,” Addie Jones, Braylon’s mother, told 11 Alive. “People were lined up to help give the heart compressions on them. Rashad came out of the water without a heartbeat, his heart had basically stopped in the water.”

Williams was taken to a hospital in Pensacola, Florida, where he was on life support, according to the GoFundMe. Williams died on April 13, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“He still has to get home,” Dee Vallee, who helped during the rescue, told the AJC. “They still have to make his funeral arrangements. All these things cost money.”

Johnsons Beach National Seashore is at the northwest tip of Florida, about 65 miles southeast of Mobile, Alabama.

What is a rip current?

Rip currents are “powerful, narrow channels of fast-moving water” that happen on the coasts of the U.S. and in the Great Lakes, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

About 100 people are killed by rip currents each year in the U.S., NOAA reported. Lifeguards rescue thousands of people from rip currents annually.

Experts say people can take steps to stay safe from rip currents, including:

Check the local water conditions before getting in.
Talk to a lifeguard at the beach about the conditions.
Only swim at beaches where lifeguards are present.
Don’t assume great weather means good swimming conditions.