Three Alabama men have drowned at a Florida panhandle beach after being caught in a rip current during an evening swim, according to local authorities.
The incident occurred over the weekend and highlights a troubling trend of recent drownings in the area. Just last week, a Pennsylvania couple faced a similar fate in Florida waters, raising concerns about the safety of swimmers in the region.
The young men, identified as Harold Denzel Hunter, 25, Jemonda Ray, 24, and Marius Richardson, 24, all residents of Birmingham, Alabama, had just arrived in Panama City with friends on Friday evening. Shortly after checking into their rental, they decided to take a swim but soon found themselves in distress, according to a statement from the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.
“The three men were caught in a rip current shortly after entering the water,” the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook update on Saturday evening.
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Emergency services received a distress call around 8 p.m., prompting immediate rescue efforts by the U.S. Coast Guard and other responders. Initially, one of the men was pulled out of the water, but the search continued for the remaining two. By the time the third man was transported to hospital, the first one already passed. Despite these efforts, all three men died upon arriving to the hospital.
This tragic event occurred despite single red flags being posted earlier in the week, indicating high-hazard surf and dangerous rip current conditions. The National Weather Service had issued a rip current warning for the panhandle, saying that the risk would remain high until Wednesday evening and moderate through the end of the week.
In a separate incident, a Pennsylvania couple, Brian Warter, 51, and Erica Wishard, 48, drowned on Thursday while swimming off Hutchinson Island on Florida’s southeast coast. The couple were vacationing with their six children when they, along with two of their teenage children, were caught in a rip current. The children managed to escape and attempted to rescue their parents but were ultimately forced to swim ashore due to the hazardous conditions.
Martin County Ocean Rescue performed life-saving measures on Warter and Wishard, but the couple was pronounced dead at a local hospital, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office confirmed in a Facebook post.
These tragic incidents underscore the deadly dangers of rip currents, emphasizing the critical importance of increased awareness and caution for beach visitors. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, rip currents can reach speeds of up to eight feet per second—faster than an Olympic swimmer. Last week alone, rip currents in Florida claimed the lives of at least six individuals.
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