Lottie Michelle Belk, a 55-year-old was slain by just a wind-driven beach umbrella in Virginia Beach, Virginia, according to local police reports. She was victimised when a huge gust of wind tossed the umbrella across the sand on Wednesday afternoon, recorded the Virginia Beach police.
The Chester, Va., resident had just been speaking to some children at about 5 p.m.
"It kind of looked like something out of the Wizard of Oz," Hugh Martin told the station. "I saw the umbrella go up in the air, and it hit the woman, literally knocking her to the side. Immediately the lifeguards, people started rushing around. It was probably one of the scariest things I have ever seen."
She was hit in the torso and collapsed into a cardiac arrest. The Emergency personnel took her to a hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries.
"There is no evidence of foul play," police said.
The wind was blowing so strongly at the time that it might even have touched 25 mph. Some emergency crews were contacted through 911 about a woman in cardiac arrest. But when they rushed to the spot they found her with a life-threatening injury. Though the crew took her to a hospital, she died.
Virginia Beach is situated 110 miles (175 km) south of Washington. The Virginia Beach Police Department Homicide Unit is currently investigating this incident.
It looks like beach umbrellas are not as innocent as they seem. Another Virginia man lost his eye in a similar accident when he was out vacationing in Delaware.
"My brother-in-law yelled there is a beach umbrella blowing in the wind, I turned and it went right into my eye," Ed Quigley told the station.
But Tom Gill, Captain of the Virginia Beach Lifesaving Service said that this is the first time someone being killed by an umbrella in the Resort City has been revealed. Even though he has heard of people getting injured by loose umbrellas, he felt that Belks' death seemed to be a freak accident.
