The body of 36-year-old Renton resident, Annie Banh, was discovered in the surf early Sunday morning, Aug. 4, west of the County Line Road beach approach road in front of Grayland Beach State Park.
A woman and her two pre-teen children walking on the beach observed what they at first thought was a log floating in the water close to the shoreline. She quickly determined that it was a body and notified authorities at 8:45 a.m.
South Beach Fire & EMS personnel, as well as Grays Harbor County and Pacific County law enforcement responded to the scene.
According to Pacific County Sheriff, Scott Johnson, the woman and her 8-year-old daughter left Renton around 4 a.m. Sunday and headed to Grayland, where Banh went surf fishing, telling her daughter to wait in the car.
Bahn’s father told KIROTV that Banh told his granddaughter to remain in the vehicle while she fished. The child told him that she was playing video games and watching her mom fish in the surf near their vehicle. At one point when she looked up from her game, her mother had disappeared.
Banh’s father said the child told him that she went in search of her mother on the beach. Unable to find her, after a short time she returned to their vehicle and started honking the horn to draw attention. A Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s deputy removed the child safely from the car that was close to being undermined by waves from the incoming tide.
Temporarily taken into custody by Washington State Child Protective Services, Banh’s daughter was reunited with her grandparents in Renton on Sunday afternoon.
Banh’s father told KIROTV that surf fishing was the only sport his daughter was passionate about. “She was addicted to it,” he said. He also said that Banh, who did not know how to swim, usually went surf fishing with at least one other person and that she had been pulled out by rip tides in the past, but her fishing companions were able to grab her in time to get her back to shore.
“When she told us that she was going alone this time, we begged her not to go,” he said.
According to her father, Banh did not know how to swim. A life jacket was found in her vehicle.
Pacific County Sheriff Scott Johnson said there were no obvious signs of trauma or foul play, indicating that most likely, Banh was caught in a rip tide and dragged under the water.
Third surf fishing death this year
This is the third death this year attributed at least in part to surf fishing.
On April 14, Seattle resident Se Rok An, 73, was fishing near Ocean City on the North Beach when he got in a rip current and disappeared as his wife looked on.
An was in the water for more than 10 minutes before he washed ashore. He could not be revived.
Federal Way resident, Antonio Inocencio, 65, died near Ocean Shores June 16 while surf fishing. He was fishing alone and was apparently knocked down by a wave and pulled under when his waders filled with water.
According to the Grays Harbor County Coroner’s Office, the autopsy showed that Inocencio probably died of cardiac arrhythmia, which has been associated with cold-water immersion deaths.
Rip tide cautions
• Don’t ever turn your back on the ocean. Incoming waves can carry logs and other debris that can cause serious injuries and even death.
• Watch for rogue waves that roll much higher up on the beach, even on outgoing and at low tides.
• Never go into the water any deeper than your knees. Rogue waves can knock you over and drag you out to sea.
• Any time that you are in the water, even only up to your knees, it is advisable to wear a life jacket.
• Don’t fight rip tides. A rip tide is a strong undercurrent of water flowing back out to sea between underwater sand bars. Stay away from calm, murky waters that have wave action on either side.
If you are caught in a rip tide, stay calm. Swim parallel to the beach and diagonal to the current to break free, Do not attempt to swim against the current toward the beach. You will tire quickly. If you do tire, float on your back until you are carried free of the rip tide and then swim to shore.
