ABC News doctor Jamie Zimmerman drowns in Hawaii
Jamie Zimmerman, a 31-year-old doctor and reporter with ABC News' medical unit, has drowned while on vacation in Hawaii after apparently being swept out to sea.
Zimmerman died Monday, according to a post on her Facebook page written by Zimmerman's mother.
"This is a post I never thought I would have to write. It is not supposed to happen this way!" Jordan Zimmerman wrote. "On Monday my precious daughter Jamie Lauren slipped on some rocks at the mouth of the Lumahai River on Kauai, Hawaii and was swept out to sea. Lifeguards and paramedics rushed to rescue Jamie, but were not able to resuscitate her."
Jamie Zimmerman had updated her own profile on her Facebook page on Monday not long before the accident. It shows her smiling face and Kauai's north shore in the background.
The circumstances of her death were also reported Thursday by ABC News President James Goldston in a note to staff.
The location, at the mouth of the river at Lumahai Beach, was also confirmed by Kauai County spokeswoman Sarah Blane said in an email to the Associated Press.
The incident occurred just before 4 p.m., according to Kuaui police, with witnesses calling police to say they saw a woman being swept out to sea. Lifeguards rushed to the scene on a Jet Ski and found her unresponsive in the water about 200 yards east of the river mouth, according to the Star-Advertiser, a Honolulu newspaper. They brought her to shore and administered CPR. She was taken to Wilcox Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Lumahai can be dangerous for those unfamiliar with the area, particularly during the winter when surf is up on the North Shore, Blane said, according to the AP. However, there were no flash flood or high surf advisories on this day. While rescuers have responded to incidents there, there has not been a major incident in that area in recent memory, she said.
The Lumahai River flows into Lumahai Beach, which was made famous in the 1958 film South Pacific as the location where Mitzi Gaynor sang I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair.
Zimmerman researched stories for ABC's medical unit and also offered meditation sessions for ABC News staff in New York, Goldston said. She traveled in Haiti and the Amazon rain forest and made a documentary film on Congolese refugee camps.