Six People Pulled from Oregon Coastal Waters Tuesday

A teenage boy is presumed dead after disappearing yesterday while wading in the waves with friends near Cannon Beach.

Salem-News.com

(SEASIDE, Ore. ) - A Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued two swimmers from the waters near Seaside on Tuesday.

Coast Guard Air Station Astoria received a call from 911 operators at 5:44 PM that three swimmers had been caught in a riptide and were pulled out to sea.

An HH-60 helicopter crew was flown to the scene and airlifted two of the swimmers from the water.

One other swimmer managed to swim to shore on his own prior to the helicopter's arrival.

The rescued swimmers were dropped off on the shore to waiting emergency medical service workers.

None of the swimmers had any major medical issues.

This is one of many incidents that the Coast Guard was informed of Tuesday.

At 1:01 PM, Coast Guard Group Astoria received a report of one person in the water, also caught by a rip current, off of Tillamook Bay, Ore.

Coast Guard Station Tillamook Bay responded by sending a 23-foot rescue boat crew.

The crew returned the person to shore where the subject declined medical assistance.

There were two other similar reports to Coast Guard Air Station Astoria.

One of a person in the water who was recovered by a good samaritan, and another of two people in the water off of Netarts Bay, Ore.

The two made it back to shore on their own. Emergency medical services were on scene.

The Coast Guard reminds beach-goers to be safe, prepared and to remain aware of possible dangers.

A riptide is a strong flow of water returning seaward from the shore.

Such currents can all be extremely dangerous, dragging swimmers away from the beach and leading to drowning when they attempt to fight the current and become exhausted.

Riptides cause approximately 100 deaths annually in the United States, more than all other natural hazards except heat and lightning.

When caught in a rip current, one should not fight it, but rather swim parallel to the shoreline in order to leave it.

Floating until the current disperses into deeper waters is another method of surviving such a dangerous incident, but it may leave the swimmer farther out from shore.

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