MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. — A father of three from Illinois died Sunday while on a family vacation in Florida when he tried to rescue his son and other children from a rip current.
Pete Rosengren, 42, was with his wife Maura, their sons Gavin, 14, Charlie, 12, and Grant, 7, and a few other families that had been on vacation at Miramar Beach, according to The Daily Herald. The publication reports Rosengren was the vice president of sales and digital strategies for the Daily Herald Media Group.
Muara told the Herald it all happened so fast.
She said they had only been at the beach for a few minutes when the kids ran into the water. Then, things took a turn when they were caught in a rip current, according to the Herald.
Maura told the newspaper the kids were able to help each other get back to safety except for one of their friend's 9-year-old sons.
"We could see one little boy couldn't get in and ... (Pete) went out there," she told the Herald.
The Herald said all the children were rescued and are expected to be okay.
Friends told the Chicago Tribune Pete was the kind of person who was always there for others.
The South Waldon Fire District said double red flags were flying at the beaches Sunday because of rip current risks. Double red flags are a warning for people to stay completely out of the water.
A rip current is a narrow channel of fast-moving water that moves away from the shoreline. Waves crash onto the shoreline and pile water – eventually, that water has to go somewhere, so it jets outward in between sandbars. The water can move pretty quickly, sometimes up to 8 feet per second, according to the National Weather Service.
It's a misconception that rip currents drag swimmers underneath the water. Instead, they quickly pull the person away from the beach. The swimmer might try to swim back to shore against the rip and eventually become too exhausted. That's how people drown.
The best way to escape a rip current is to keep calm and swim parallel to the shoreline until the pull is no longer felt.
