Four people who got caught up in rip currents at Fortunes Rocks Beach in Biddeford were rescued by lifeguards Wednesday afternoon.
Biddeford’s Deputy Fire Chief Kevin Duross credited the lifeguards with saving the lives of two adults and two children, the Journal Tribune reported. The Biddeford Fire Department also responded.
Duross said five lifeguards went into the ocean and brought the four swimmers to shore. Duross said all four were transported to local hospitals, including one with serious injuries. Their names were not available.
“It was the lifeguards that really saved the people. They responded pretty quickly. They did an amazing job,” Duross told the Journal Tribune.
According to the National Weather Service in Gray, conditions at Fortunes Rocks Beach were rough, with 3- to 4-foot surf. The water temperature at the Biddeford beach on Wednesday was 66 degrees.
Rip currents, sometimes referred to as riptides, are narrow channels of water that move away from the beach as fast as 8 feet a second and can occur at any beach with breaking waves. Anyone caught in them is advised to swim parallel to shore until they are out of the current.
On Sunday, two people died and several others were rescued when they got caught in rip currents at Seabrook Beach in New Hampshire.
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