Three people taken to the hospital after water rescue in North Myrtle Beach
At least four people were rescued from the ocean in North Myrtle Beach on Wednesday night by first responders, with three being transported to the hospital.
According to a social media post by North Myrtle Beach Fire Rescue, they received reports of up to six swimmers in distress just before 8 p.m. near the 6200 block of North Ocean Boulevard in the ocean.
North Myrtle Beach Police arrived first, and one of their officers trained in ocean rescue entered the water and, along with good Samaritans, was able to get two of the people safely back on shore, the post said.
When fire crews arrived at the beach, their trained swimmers also entered the ocean and rescued the remaining two people still in water and got them back to shore.
According to the release on social media, three people were transported by Horry County Fire Rescue Medic units to the emergency room for further evaluation. Others were checked out on scene but refused transport.
“Excellent work by Fire & PD crews coordinating both in-water operations and shore operations as well our Dispatchers keeping up with updates from the scene to bring the scene under control quickly,” the post read. “Great work by HCFR Medic crews triaging patient care on shore and getting patients packaged for transport.”
All emergency personnel cleared the beachfront a little before 9 p.m., the fire department wrote. The fire department did not say why the swimmers needed rescuing in their post.
The National Weather Service in Wilmington, North Carolina, issued an alert for moderate risk of rip currents through Thursday evening.
Lifeguard towers along the ocean in North Myrtle Beach appeared to have yellow flag warnings for medium hazard, according to SafeBeachDay broadcasts. As of 7:40 a.m. on Thursday morning, just Tower One had a red flag warning, indicating dangerous currents.
