BSO: Man dies trying to save son from Dania Beach rip currents
MIAMI - Chaotic moments off the coast of Dania Beach on Sunday when 4 people got caught in rip currents.
The Coast Guard was able to get two of them out of the water. Lifeguards from neighboring Hollywood heard the call and raced to help.
"We noticed 3 conscious patients, one unresponsive patient," says Hollywood Beach Safety Capt Bogdan Corsovic. He and Officer Ramo KIine directed the swimmers to safety and quickly got Fausto Salcedo to shore. He did not survive.
BSO tells us he went in the water to save his son, but lost his life while trying.
"It's heartbreaking when you hear of people who don't make it home from the beach, it's pretty much our life work to make sure everyone does leave the beach," Officer Kline said.
Witnesses say hundreds of people were on the beach.
Social media says this was a church event, held just after 6 after Dania Beach lifeguards left for the day. We reached out to the church. They did not want to comment, saying they were with the family.
Sunday was a red flag day on the beach, meaning dangerous water and rip currents. Today most people stayed out of the water.
"It's pretty dangerous, the waves look pretty bad," said Beachgoer Claudia Alonso.
Capt. Corsovic is urging people to stay out of the water when there are rip currents. "If you're stuck in this rip current you do not want to swim to shore, in our situation you want to swim north or south, parallel to the shore," he said.
A piece of advice as you try to spot them, look for patches of seaweed that appear to be heading out to sea.
"It will look like a line, almost like a road, the rip current is taking it out, even though the top of the water might appear as it's coming in, it's going out," Captain Corsovic said.
BSO is investigating. The three others who were in the water were evaluated by paramedics and released.
