Three men drowned Friday while swimming at a Florida beach after becoming caught in a current, adding to a deadly week of swimming incidents along the East Coast and into the South.
The Bay County Sheriff’s Office identified the three men Saturday as 24-year-old Harold Denzel Hunter, 25-year-old Jemonda Ray and 24-year-old Marius Richardson of Birmingham, Alabama.
The three arrived in Bay County with friends Friday evening and “checked into their rental home and rushed outside to get into the water,” Sheriff Tommy Ford said. The men ended up in a rip current around 8 p.m
Ford said his office received a call Friday evening reporting three swimmers in distress. His office responded along with the U.S. Coast Guard, Bay County Emergency Services and other agencies to locate them.
First responders attempted a search and rescue for more than two hours, Ford said. After the men were withdrawn from the Gulf of Mexico, they received medical care. On Saturday, Ford announced that all three men had died in local hospitals.
“My heart is so heavy this morning over the loss of three young visitors to our community,” Ford said in a statement. “I saw so many people last night, including visitors to our community, gathering on the beach desperately searching for them.”
After the individuals were located, the U.S. Coast Guard station in Panama City urged locals and visitors to exercise caution in the Gulf waters because “currents emerge unexpectedly and can occur even on the nicest days. ”
As of Saturday morning, the National Weather Service’s forecast for Florida’s Gulf beaches remained high, citing “life-threatening rip currents” and 2-foot surf that is “dangerous to all levels of swimmers.”
The incident comes at a time of increased awareness around beach safety. A Pennsylvania couple drowned Thursday at Stuart Beach on Florida’s Hutchinson Island after being caught in a rip current, and two teenagers went missing Friday from Jacob Riis Park in Queens, New York, after a large wave overtook them.
The U.S. Coast Guard announced Saturday that it has suspended its search for the missing teens after a search of more than 400 square miles outside New Jersey and New York.
“The decision to suspend a search is always difficult and weighs heavily on everyone involved,” said Jonathan Andrechik, Coast Guard Sector Commander in New York. “Our crews, along with our partner agencies, conducted an extensive search.”
As of June 9, the National Weather Service counted at least 11 fatalities due to rip currents.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
