Two women have tragically died after being swept out to sea as they slept on a California beach, authorities said.
Incident Details
The two women are thought to have been napping on Panther Beach in Santa Cruz, California at around 5pm local time on Wednesday, June 10, when the tide caught them off guard, Santa Cruz County Volunteer Fire Capt. Kyle Breton said in a statement shared on X.
Several agencies responded to the emergency, including Cal Fire, the Santa Cruz County Fire Department, Santa Cruz City Fire rescue swimmers, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office and California State Parks. Approximately eight rescue swimmers were also deployed, Breton said.
Recovery and Identification
One woman was pulled from the water near Panther Beach and the other was located at nearby Yellow Bank Beach. The women were transported to local hospitals. One of them was taken off of the beach via helicopter, Breton said, while the second was carried up in a Stokes basket, referring to a stretcher used by first responders.
On Monday, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office confirmed to PEOPLE that both women — identified as 21-year-old Harshita Nair and Mahial Sran, 20, both of Fremont, Calif. — had died.
Dangerous Conditions
"Both of these patients, we believe, were originally sleeping right at the keyhole, which is an area that we're finding catches people unaware," Breton said in a video posted to X, referring to an entrance to the beach underneath a rock formation.
"The tides come in and, in this case, they swept out two sleeping patients, but what we're also seeing is that people go through the keyhole to get to Yellow Bank Beach and then get trapped ... because the tides come in," he explained.
Cal Fire said in its statement that the incident marked the fifth rescue the agency had performed in a month along a one-mile stretch of coastline near Santa Cruz.
