It was a dream vacation for Hannah Smith — a week in the Bahamas with friends celebrating their college graduation.
But the joyous excursion turned tragic when 22-year-old Hannah, who just finished her studies at Miles College in Alabama, fell — according to her parents — or jumped — say police — off a pontoon boat as it was being docked last Monday.
Smith, who earlier this month graduated summa cum laude with a degree in communications and graphic design, was dragged under the water by the whirring propeller blades which slashed and partially severed her legs, the Daily Mail reports.
She was only saved from drowning when two female passengers managed to grab her arm and heroically haul her back on board.
Smith, from Memphis, was rushed to a hospital, then airlifted back to the United States for emergency surgery where she remains in critical condition.
Police sources told the Daily Mail that alcohol played a role in Smith’s decision to jump off the boat.
But Tracy Smith, Hannah’s mother, vigorously denied the accusations, telling the news outlet, “Hannah was not intoxicated. She fell from the boat. It’s hurtful to say she jumped because she did not.”
Hannah’s dad, Marvin Smith, said he spoke to the doctor who treated her when she arrived at Doctors Hospital in Nassau.
“The doctor suggested she was coherent when they first got to the hospital,’ he told the Daily Mail. “Everything he said suggested she was not inebriated.”
Hannah arrived in Nassau on Monday as a passenger on the Carnival Sunrise with her friend Brooklyn Pitre. They were returning from a day trip to Pearl Island, a tropical getaway where you can snorkel or swim alongside pigs and dolphins.
Preliminary reports suggest Hannah entered the water moments after the 70-foot pontoon boat docked.
The ferry’s captain told police he heard frantic cries of “she jumped off,” followed by a banging sound that came from the starboard side of the vessel. He saw Hannah in the water, surrounded by a pool of blood, and shifted the engine into neutral.
A deckhand said he saw two female passengers clutching Hannah’s arm and dragging her back onto the vessel.
One of the women was Pitre who told Memphis news outlet WREG that when Hannah went into the water she did not appear distraught, however she “disappeared for about three seconds.”
Then she popped back up asking for help. “And she was like, get me. And me and another woman, we had met on the cruise ship that was on the excursion with us. We pulled her out, and then there was like a lot of blood in the water,” said Pitre.
In a statement, the Royal Bahamas Police reported, “The victim is alleged to have entered the water from a vessel she was a passenger on while it was attempting to dock.”
“She sustained serious injuries to her lower body, caused by the vessel’s propeller,” it concluded.
Hannah’s mother questioned why Pitre hadn’t been interviewed by investigators despite witnessing the accident first-hand and could offer valuable information.
“These kids work their a***s off to graduate. It was a celebratory trip,” Tracy Smith said.
“Do they have fun? Yes. Were they drunk? No,” Smith claimed. “Did she jump? No. Are we completely aware of what happened? No.”
“But could there have been a safety mechanism that was off, was the boat rocking, we are not 100 percent sure of that,” Tracy Smith continued.
‘There are so many things that could have been happening. I want to know the truth,” she said. “This was a young woman, happy, celebrating her life and now she’s fighting for it.”
A GoFundMe page for Smith has raised $46,254 as of late Monday afternoon. On it, her sister Rachel Smith wrote, “Hannah is light. Hannah is love. Hannah is absolutely HER. Our little sister is nothing short of a headache, but we wouldn’t want her any other way. She is literally the strongest of us all.”
“This boating accident will not define your life,” Rachel Smith continued. “We need you to have many more birthdays, more holidays, more life experiences. We love you endlessly. FOREVER AND ALWAYS SUGARBOOGER.”
In the latest update on her health, posted last Thursday by her sister, Rachel Smith wrote, “Hannah suffered a few setbacks. She had to undergo additional transfusions of blood, platelets, and dialysis. Before she was taken into her scheduled surgery, she momentarily came out of her sedation. She was able to acknowledge our presence and encouraging words with head nods and squeezing our hands. She has underwent her fifth surgery. Please continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers.”
Days later, the family shared another update via The Mirror, stating that Hannah is not yet aware of the extent of her injuries including losing both her legs. Though the family have not explicitly confirmed whether both of Hannah’s legs were amputated.
“She’s been so heavily medicated, she’s mentioned things but it’s like she’s having hallucinations,” said her father, Marvin Smith.
“So we have not asked her anything related to [the accident]. We need her focusing on her healing and not trying to remember or trying to relive it,” added her mother Tracy Smith.
