Beachgoer killed by stray umbrella picked up by wind in South Carolina 

A woman was killed on Wednesday at a beach in South Carolina after an umbrella was picked up by the wind and hit her in the chest. 

The umbrella was picked up by a gust of wind in Garden City beach at around 12:40 p.m., impaling Tammy Perreault, 63, in the chest, Horry County Chief Deputy Coroner Tamara Willard said. 

The victim was taken to the Tidelands Waccamaw Community Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. 

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), about 3,000 individuals are injured by beach umbrellas every year. 

A beach umbrella is built in a way that its large canopy can easily get caught in a strong wind if it is not placed properly. If let loose, the umbrella can become even more dangerous due to its spiked end. 

"Any incident of a beach umbrella going airborne is alarming and can be dangerous or even deadly," a spokesperson for the agency said.

A study by the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System published in the Journal of Safety research found that 50.6% of the injuries caused by beach umbrellas were due to the wind. Around 44% of those injuries are laceration cases, 19% are contusions of abrasions, and 16.6% are internal organ injuries. 

CPSC recommends beachgoers to submerge their umbrella’s about 2 feet into the sand and tilt them to avoid tragic accidents such as this one.