Two rescued after being swept into ocean by strong rip current on Monterey County beach

MARINA – Two people were rescued from the ocean near Marina on Sunday after being swept into the water by a rip current near 8th Street and Beach Range Road.

At about 4:30 p.m. on Sunday during the Super Bowl game, the Marina Police Department was notified that California State Parks and the U.S. Coast Guard were responding to a water rescue involving an adult male and female. Marina police officers responded and located both individuals in visible distress in the water.

Police said the two were being pulled farther out to sea by a strong rip current and were struggling to remain afloat in dangerous surf conditions.

By 4:43 p.m., the male had reached the shoreline but was unable to stand. Marina officers assisted in retrieving him from the surf.

At 4:50 p.m., a State Parks rescue officer reached the female in the water. As they approached the shoreline, wave action caused the officer to lose grip, and the woman was pulled back toward the ocean. Marina officers re-entered the surf zone and assisted in pulling her safely to shore.

Both individuals were brought out of the water and were no longer in immediate danger following the rescue.

The Marina rescue comes amid a series of recent ocean incidents along the Monterey County coastline. In late December, multiple people were reported swept into the ocean during separate incidents in Marina and along 17-Mile Drive near Point Joe. On Dec. 23, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a man who was swept off rocks near Point Joe after being hit by a sneaker wave. About two hours earlier, Marina police received a report of another person swept out to sea by large waves. Neither individual was located. Days later, a local whale-watching tour boat reported a possible body floating about four miles off the coastline of Marina State Beach, but responding agencies were unable to locate a body. Active search efforts in those cases were later suspended.

In November last year, six people were swept into the ocean near Soberanes Point in Big Sur. Three service members were caught in sneaker waves where two women were able to exit the water, but a man identified as Amanpreet Thind, a U.S. Army specialist and Defense Language Institute student, was not recovered.

The incident occurred one week after a father and daughter were killed by dangerous surf in the same region. Multiple agencies responded to both incidents, with officials citing hazardous ocean conditions, high surf, rip currents, and sneaker waves as contributing factors.