Crews rescue 5 caught in rip current during nighttime swim off South Beach

Crews came to the rescue of a group of people who were caught in a rip current during a late night swim off South Beach Only in Dade shared video on social media of the moments when a nighttime swim turned into a rescue mission Miami Beach Fire Rescue and Miami Beach Ocean Rescue pulled five people from the ocean near Eighth Street at around p m on Saturday as a large crowd that had gathered clapped and cheered Sunday afternoon Lucas Bocanegra operations supervisor for Miami Beach Ocean Rescue mentioned the first dilemma was the windy weather I highly recommend if you see ever the red and yellow flag please don t enter the water The water is not safe he announced There s really strong rip currents especially on a day like in the current era when the wind s over miles an hour There is a good chance you re going to get caught in a rip current The second matter Bocanegra explained was the lack of on-duty lifeguards Once we shut the towers at you can see the flaps and the towers close and the flags put away just don t enter the water he reported It s just not safe because you might not have somebody to get there in time to help you out This group was lucky that with so plenty of people needing help everyone was checked out by fire rescue crews and no one needed a trip to the hospital Bocanegra advises swimmers who find themselves caught in a rip current not to panic and attempt to swim straight to shore You gotta swim sideways you gotta swim parallel to shore he reported Don t fight that current go with the current Miami Beach s website provides beach conditions that people can access before going into the water