Two people were pulled from the rocks at the Channel Islands Harbor jetty Wednesday afternoon after being swept out to sea, with one suffering serious injuries and the other minor injuries. First responders rushed to the harbor around 1:47 p.m. following reports of a water rescue in progress.
Responders Find Pair Among the Rocks
According to News Channel 3-12, Oxnard Fire Department and Ventura County Harbor Department crews located the two amid the rocks of the harbor's jetty, and an ocean rescue team hauled them aboard a harbor patrol vessel. The outlet's report described the rescued pair differently in two places — its headline did not specify their genders, while the article's text said an adult man and a boy were rescued. One of the two was transported with serious injuries, and the other with minor injuries, the station reported.
Channel Islands Harbor Patrol told the station that the pair had ended up among rocks on the southerly jetty, at the mouth of the harbor. The harbor patrol also relayed that the National Weather Service had issued a beach hazard warning for the area, citing high surf and dangerous rip currents, the same report noted.
A Familiar, Dangerous Stretch of Water
Rip currents are a leading cause of ocean rescues nationwide. California Sea Grant estimates that lifeguards rescue roughly 60,000 people from drowning across the country each year, and that about 80 percent of those rescues stem from rip currents. The organization advises anyone caught in a rip current who cannot make it back to shore to face the shore and call or wave for help rather than fight the pull of the water.
Wednesday's rescue is not the first time the waters near Channel Islands Harbor have turned deadly. In a prior incident reported by vcstar.com, a woman died after being found unconscious in the water at the harbor. A beach hazard warning was in effect for the area during the November 11 rescue.
