Man Found Unconscious by Police Dies, Believed To Have Been Surfing

A North Carolina beach surfer was found unconscious and then later died after suffering a cut from an unknown source.

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A man was found unconscious on Kure Beach during the afternoon of August 23. He then died because of a cut on his leg that are appear to have happened while he was surfing.

He was later indentified as Bryan Richard Yurecka, 39, in a news release from the town of Kure Beach, North Carolina the following thursday. Yurecka was a native of Wilmington.

Life-saving measures were made by first responders, but were unfortunately unsuccessful.

There is still no information available on exactly what happened to cut the man, but the injuries are believed to have occurred while he was surfing.

Some of the people that were among the first to find the man spoke to Nate Mauldin of WWAY to give more information on what had happened. Glenn Carr and Wendy Harris, native to Carolina Beach came upon a woman and a child that were attending to an unconscious surfer.

"So she went away and the closer we got to him as we were walking, we realized he was not okay,” said Harris. “We could see that he was bleeding a lot, and so we figured out that it was on his leg, not exactly where, but we tried to make sure that we went high enough, and we knew enough to do a tourniquet. We tried to do it with my shirt, that didn’t work ca use it wasn’t long enough, and so then we used the rope from the surfboard.”

The two locals believed that it was his surfboard that caused the fatal cut.

“We called all our kids, and probably hugged them a little tighter over the weekend than normal cause it’s a good reminder,” Harris finished. “Life is fragile and you have no idea how long you’re here.”

Quick Surfing Safety Tips

1. Don't attempt any waves that you don't feel comfortable riding: Going outside of your comfort zone is one of the easiest ways to make an injury more likely.
2. Check your equipment: Make sure everything being used on your surf trip is safe and ready.
3. Surf in a group: While it may be inconvenient to wait for someone else to be ready for a surf, having another person there to tend to wounds could save a life.