Authorities: 2013 Beach Season Deadly in Alabama

The summer beach season is over, and it didn’t end too soon for public safety officials who say they saw an increase in the number of tourist deaths along Alabama’s coast this year.

Five people drowned on the Alabama coast this summer, the Baldwin County coroner’s office said, and three more died in falls off condominium towers.

The number wasn’t large compared with the millions of people who visited the state’s prime beaches from Memorial Day through Labor Day, yet it was unusual enough to get authorities’ attention.

Police Chief Billy Wilkins of Orange Beach, where two Louisiana tourists were killed after plunging off condominium buildings, said summer 2013 will stand out for the number of fatalities.

“It’s been a problem this year,” he said.

In Gulf Shores, safety officials had to briefly close the beaches in mid-June after four tourists from Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky and Louisiana died in rip currents following a run of bad weather.

“I don’t remember that happening before,” said Grant Brown, a spokesman for the city. “We were spending so much time in the water trying to save people rather trying to keep them safe.”

The coroner’s office said the number of tourist deaths seemed slightly higher this year than most, but historical statistics weren’t immediately available.

Problems began in June when four men died the surf just off the coast in Gulf Shores. Two of the victims drowned within just a few miles of each other on the same day.

In July in Orange Beach, a teenager fell 16 stories to his death off a condo tower, where his body was found in the swimming pool, and another person died two weeks later after falling off the fifth floor at another condominium.

Both of those deaths were considered accidental, Wilkins said, but authorities have yet to receive the results of laboratory tests that could show whether alcohol or drugs were involved.

“It’s always hard to say exactly what the cause is,” Wilkins said.

A third person, a 48-year-old woman from Baldwin County, died after falling from a condominium tower in Gulf Shores. That case was ruled a suicide, authorities said.

The deaths do not appear linked to a surge in tourism numbers.

After having record numbers of tourists and revenues in 2011 and 2012 following the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, the number of coastal visitors appeared to moderate this year, based on preliminary numbers.

June lodging revenues were slightly lower this year than in 2012, according to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Tourism, but statistics from the entire season are not yet available.