Fifth tourist in four days dies at the same Florida beach
Kit Roberts
Featured Image Credit: Jacqueline Anders/Spencer Platt/Getty Images
A 60-year-old woman has become the fifth tourist to die in four days at the same beach.
The beach in Florida has proven extremely dangerous due to the strong rip currents which are present offshore, that can prove to be deadly even to the strongest of swimmers.
On Friday, three men drowned at Panama City Beach - located near the Carillon neighborhood - and a teenager had also died at the same spot the day before.
Debbie Szymanski had been swimming offshore while enjoying the beach with her family. But the group realised that something wasn't right when Debbie stopped responding to their calls from the shore, according to the Bay County Sheriff's Office.
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Family members were able to grab Debbie and pull her to shore after they realised she wasn't responding at around 11.30am.
Emergency services rushed to the scene and were able to get Debbie to a nearby hospital - but tragically, it was already too late as she was pronounced dead in hospital.
Rip currents are extremely dangerous as they can quickly pull even the strongest of swimmers out to sea.
If caught in a rip current the advice is to swim parallel to the shoreline, as the currents are usually narrow. By doing so, you may be able to move out of the current's force.
Swimming against the current is not advised because the current is just too powerful to swim against, resulting in someone eventually exhausting themselves and getting into difficulty.
Tragically, the advice to swim parallel was not enough for Debbie, as well as the four other people who have died at Panama City Beach in just four days.
Others who died in the treacherous waters include Harold Denzel Hunter, 25, Jemonda Ray, 24, and Marius Richardson, 24.
The three checked into their rented accommodation before heading to the beach. They had rushed into the sea to take a quick dip.
But within just minutes of being in the water they were caught in the rip current.
After a search lasting hours, all three were pulled from the water but tragically died later in hospital.
The first of the five people to have died was Ryker Milton, who was just 19-years-old. Milton was also caught in a rip current after he went out for a swim on Thursday.
He too was rushed to hospital, where he died in the emergency room.
The sheriff's office has posted warnings on Facebook for people to stay out of the water, writing: “The water can appear calm but underneath currents are treacherous today. It’s just too dangerous right now to swim.”