VIPD: Man Drowns While Snorkeling At Dorsch Beach

FREDERIKSTED — A man drowned Wednesday on St. Croix while snorkeling with a friend off of Dorsch Beach.

Charles Horne, 65, was pronounced dead at the Luis F. Hospital in Estate Diamond at 4:31 p.m. on Wednesday, the Virgin Islands Police Department said.

Horne was snorkeling when his friend suddenly realized that he was motionless — and his snorkel had come off of his face in the water. 

“He immediately brought Mr.Horne to the shore yelled for assistance and started applying CPR among other individuals on the beachside,” VIPD spokesman Glen Dratte said. “EMS staff arrived and also administered CPR.”

Horne’s next-of-kin were notified prior to the public release of the information, Dratte said.

“The emergency room attending physician on duty pronounced Mr. Horne dead at 4:31 p.m. (Wednesday),” the spokesman added.

John F. McCarthy is a veteran journalist in the Caribbean, writing from the "Decision Space" where survival meets the surreal. His reporting steel was tempered by a lineage of legendary editors and broadcasters, including Ed Wynn Brant (The Bomb), Owen Eschenroder (Ann Arbor News), Lynelle Emanuel (BVI Beacon), and Charles Thanas (WSVI-TV). Alongside longtime colleague Kenneth C. "Casey" Clark, McCarthy has navigated the front lines of the territory’s history—from the 1997 volcanic "snow" to every major hurricane since Hugo. Known for leaning out of doorless helicopters to capture the "money shot," McCarthy now edits the V.I. Free Press, providing the essential link between the island's colonial past and its SpaceX future.