A woman who was sleeping at a popular Virginia beach has died after a lifeguard stand fell and crushed her, according to police.

Virginia Beach Police Department (VBPD) officers were alerted to reports a lifeguard stand had fallen onto someone near 21st Street on the beach at about 3:30 a.m. on Saturday, September 9.

When officers arrived at the location they determined the lifeguard stand fell on top of the woman and she was pronounced dead at the scene. Police later identified the woman as 28-year-old Chelsea Moles.

In a statement sent to Newsweek, a VBPD spokesperson said: "Investigators deemed this incident as an accidental death.

"Moles was believed to be sleeping on top of the stand when another individual tied a hammock to the stand causing the stand to topple over crushing on top of Moles."

In Virginia, there were 5,258 deaths that were recorded as happening as a result of accidents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The CDC added that Virginia has an estimated accident death rate of 59.4 per every 100,000 inhabitants.

Virginia has the 13th highest number of accident deaths in the country, far below the larger states of California, Florida and Texas, with 20,879, 17,780 and 14,704 respectively.

But when the accident death rate was adjusted for population, Virginia had the 13th lowest in the whole country.

Moles was known to be homeless and police have said no charges have been brought against anyone in connection with her death, according to NBC affiliate WAVY-TV.

The Beach Community Partnership, which monitors homelessness in Virginia Beach, said there were 313 people who were identified as experiencing homelessness in January 2023.

When adjusted for Virginia Beach's population of about 457,670, the number of homeless people there makes up less than 1 percent of the city's population.

The Virginia Beach oceanfront is arguably the most famous beach in the state and is a popular destination for visitors.

According to the City of Virginia Beach local government, tourism is a major economic source for the city and visitors spent more than $2 billion for the first time in 2021.

A November 2022 city report said: "The $2.1 billion of spending directly by visitors created a total economic impact of $3.3 billion, once all downstream impacts are accounted for, like additional business-to-business sales.

"The Virginia Beach travel industry also supports 31,037 jobs and $808 million in total labor income. The $295 million in state and local taxes generated by tourism in 2021 also spares each Virginia Beach household an additional $1,700 in annual taxes."

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

");jQuery(this).remove()}) jQuery('.start-slider').owlCarousel({loop:!1,margin:10,nav:!0,items:1}).on('changed.owl.carousel',function(event){var currentItem=event.item.index;var totalItems=event.item.count;if(currentItem===0){jQuery('.owl-prev').addClass('disabled')}else{jQuery('.owl-prev').removeClass('disabled')} if(currentItem===totalItems-1){jQuery('.owl-next').addClass('disabled')}else{jQuery('.owl-next').removeClass('disabled')}})}})})

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7r7HWrK6enZtjsLC5jrCmppmeYsCtscSpoKefXZeyoq%2FHZpqrraOdsqV5w56YraBdobanscaumKucXajBorrDZmhxamZlgno%3D