'She was really happy' to play in the ocean, then rip current claims Round Lake Park woman's life
Editor's note: The story has been edited to correct Maria Perez's hometown.
Round Lake Park resident Maria R. Perez long had dreamed of seeing the Atlantic Ocean.
So, while on a family trip to Florida, the 35-year-old woman on Thursday went with friends and relatives to Miami Beach to play in the ocean surf for the first time in her life.
But then Perez, her husband, her daughter and three other people were swept out to sea by what authorities believe was a fast-moving current.
All six people were pulled to shore by police, lifeguards or other rescuers — but Perez died at a Miami Beach hospital.
Police say Perez likely drowned.
Her family and friends are left praying that “everything is going to be OK,” said Juan Rodriguez of Round Lake, who had accompanied Perez and her family on the trip and was in the group caught in the rip current.
“It was unbelievable,” said Rodriguez, who grew up with Perez in Mexico and remained friends with her into adulthood.
Miami Beach police went to the 17th Street beach about 7 p.m. local time Thursday after receiving a call of swimmers in distress.
Perez had gone into the water with Rodriguez, 37; her husband, 39-year-old Eleazar Rangel; their 11-year-old daughter; Rodriguez's 11-year-old daughter; and an 11-year-old boy. The children are not named in police reports, but Rodriguez identified two of them.
They were playing in knee-high water, Rodriguez said, having a great time.
“We were near the shore, just being with the kids,” Rodriguez said. “We were being really careful.”
Suddenly, all six were pulled by the water away from the beach.
Miami Beach police believe a rip current was to blame. Rip currents are powerful, narrow channels of fast-moving water prevalent along the Florida coast and elsewhere, including the Great Lakes, according to the National Ocean Service website.
Panicked swimmers often try to counter a rip current by swimming straight back to shore, but that causes fatigue and increases the risk of drowning, experts say.
Rodriguez recalled the two girls climbing on top of him as he struggled in the ocean. The girls were panicking and calling for help.
“The girls were really desperate,” he said. “They were pushing me down.”
The water was deep. The girls went under the water and resurfaced. Rodriguez cried for help.
“The only thing I could do was pray and ask God to save (the) little girls,” he said.
Then Rodriguez felt a hand grab him, and someone pulled him toward the beach. He doesn't know who rescued him.
People also rescued Rodriguez's daughter and the other two children. All four were taken to Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach.
Police arrived after Rodriguez and the three kids were out of the water. But Perez and Rangel were still in trouble.
Officers reported seeing the couple “in distress” about a quarter-mile from shore.
Two Miami Beach Ocean Rescue team members went into the ocean and pulled Perez to the beach. She was taken by ambulance to Mount Sinai but was pronounced dead there shortly after arrival, police said.
A Miami Beach marine patrol officer pulled Rangel out of the water and onto a boat. Rangel was taken to Mount Sinai, too.
All five survivors have been released from the hospital, Rodriguez said.
A representative of the Miami-Dade County medical examiner's office could not be reached Friday night to discuss Perez's death.
Perez's 17-year-old daughter, Juana Rangel, was on the beach waiting for her family and friends to return when the current took them.
“Everything happened so fast,” Juana said. “We still can't believe it.”
Juana said Perez was a deeply religious woman. That faith is providing strength for the family now, the teen said.
“That's what fortifies me, that she's in a better place,” Juana said.
Rodriguez remembered how his friend frolicked in the ocean just moments before the tragedy.
“She was really happy in the water,” he said.
People caught in a rip current should swim parallel to the shore, rather than directly back to shore, the National Ocean Service advised. Then, when able, they should swim back to land at an angle.