4 Dead, Including Beer Influencer, After Rescue Attempt Goes Wrong on Chilean Coast

The whole ordeal set off a chain of desperate rescue attempts that left four people dead on the central Chilean coast—including an American craft beer influencer who had called Chile home for more than a decade.

Rudy Blalock

Published: 3/13/2026, 7:38:04 AM EDT

4 Dead, Including Beer Influencer, After Rescue Attempt Goes Wrong on Chilean Coast — The El Canelo beach near Algarrobo, Valparaiso province, on the central coast of Chile on Feb. 5, 2025. (Rodrigo Arangua/AFP via Getty Images)

A woman walking along the shore was swept into the sea by a powerful wave Monday evening. The whole ordeal set off a chain of desperate rescue attempts that left four people dead on the central Chilean coast—including an American craft beer influencer who had called Chile home for more than a decade.

Benjamin "Ben" Wood, 43, a Connecticut native and well-known figure in Chile's food and craft beer scene, drowned alongside his 77-year-old father, Norman Ray Wood, who was visiting the country; his partner, María José Duarte Ureta, 47, a journalist who worked as sales manager for Tropera Brewery; and Patricia del Pilar Bello Labe, 26, a lawyer from Puerto Montt, according to local news outlets Biobio Chile and the Chilean outlet Diario El Dia.

The scene unfolded around 7 p.m. in the northern sector of Algarrobo, a coastal commune in the Valparaíso region. Bello and her partner, Felipe Hernández Bustos, were standing near the water's edge when a large wave pulled her into the ocean, according to Diario El Dia. Hernández immediately went in after her, and several bystanders—including Wood, his father and Duarte—rushed to help.

None of them made it back alive except Hernández, who was pulled from the water by Chilean Navy personnel aboard a helicopter. A high surf warning had been in effect for the area over the preceding weekend.

"These individuals include two U.S. citizens—a father and son, the son being 43 years old and residing in Chile, and the father, 77, who was visiting — along with a woman who accompanied them," prosecutor Francisco Martínez said, according to the local media. Authorities determined the cause of death for all four victims was drowning by asphyxiation from immersion, and the Homicide Brigade of the Investigations Police opened a probe into the accident.

Wood's daughter confirmed his death in a post to his Instagram Stories on March 11.

“March 9 will be for you and to remember how you gave your lives for others, just like you did many times before,” she wrote on the influencers Instagram story, translated from Spanish. “I hope to see friends (my honorary aunts and uncles) in these days of pain, but also of celebration. I love you to the moon and back.”

Wood had built a devoted following of more than 30,000 on Instagram, where he posted recipes and cooking tips—many of them featuring craft beer as a key ingredient. He arrived in Chile nearly 13 years ago and launched a string of ventures that helped reshape the country's craft beer culture, including the shop Beervana, Alameda Beer Co and the popular hamburger restaurant El Honesto Mike in Santiago's metropolitan region.

Just six days before his death, Wood posted a message on Instagram mourning the recent closure of Beervana while announcing his next chapter, a venture called Craftwork Chile. "I'm now determined and focused on doing everything—and more—with @craftworkcl, which for me will be a phoenix rising from the ashes," he wrote.

Bello, the youngest victim, held a distinguished place at the Universidad Austral de Chile's Puerto Montt campus. She was a member of the law program's inaugural class and became its first graduate and licensed attorney, according to a statement the university posted on Facebook. She had gone on to teach and pursue a doctoral degree at the faculty.

"Her dedication to education, knowledge, and academic life will always be remembered," the university said.