The State - News from July 8, 1986

Aisha Sheikh, an 11-year-old Pakistani girl who was rescued after a giant wave swept her out to sea, died in Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, two days after her parents and brother drowned in the accident near Carmel. The four vacationing Sheikh family members were posing for photographs at Monastery Beach, Monterey County sheriff’s deputies said, when Aisha’s mother, Frida, 39, was knocked into the surf by a large wave. The rest of the family jumped to her rescue, but all were swept out to sea by a second wave. Also killed were Zafar, 41, and Yusman, 15, Aisha’s father and brother. Hospital spokesman Bob Miskimon said concerned Pakistanis from throughout the Bay Area had called to offer assistance to the girl after hearing of the tragedy. Local oceanographers and marine experts say that a steeply sloping beach and occasional large waves combine to make Monastery Beach a dangerous place.