Many residents in Palm Beach County are urging for more safety precautions days after a young boy’s body was recovered after falling into the Boynton Inlet.
“I feel like it’s a simple fix, just continue that railing and this will never happen to anybody,” parent Scott Metski said.
Palm Beach County Sheriff’s officials said the 8-year-old boy was fishing with his father Thursday morning when he suddenly fell off the seawall.
“This is very very sad,” resident Marli Oliveira Thiffault said. “Everybody’s sad because we’d fish together. He fishes here with us, very nice boy.”
Officials said the child’s dad immediately called 911, which led to an hours-long search. Authorities found the boy four hours later, but it was too late to save his life. The tragedy left a mark on parents like Metski.
“Being a new father myself, my heart actually broke,” shared Metski. “I don’t know, just something inside me has a more of an empathic feeling for situations like this.”
Metski is a Palm Beach County native and is asking for more safety rails near the marina since the inlet’s current can be strong and dangerous.
“Honestly, I feel like a simple fix would just be to continue that fishing pier railing all the way until it hits the end of the west wall over there,” Metski said.
Thiffault and Metski are urging the city to add better lighting and water rescue equipment near the inlet.
“Things happen. It was dark out, six o’clock in the morning,” Metski said. “Before daybreak, maybe it’s not as well-lit in this parking lot.”
Palm Beach County Fire Rescue said this is one of 40 open-water incidents they have responded to since the start of the year.