INDIALANTIC, Fla. — A 17-year-old boy presumably drowned while swimming off Florida's eastern coast in the Atlantic Ocean over the weekend.
Law enforcement and rescuers actively searched the coastline near the Wave Crest boardwalk late Sunday afternoon for the teenager after he disappeared, according to the Indialantic Police Department.
The boy was found but pronounced dead not long thereafter, reads an update on the department's Facebook page.
The National Weather Service (NWS) warns of a moderate risk for rip currents up and down the eastern Florida coastline during the day Monday. According to the agency, rip currents tend to form at low spots or breaks in sandbars and also near structures like piers.
If caught in a rip current, stay calm — these currents do not pull you underwater. Do not try to swim to shore. Instead, swim along the shoreline until you can escape the current's pull, the NWS says. Once freed, swim at an angle away from the current and toward shore.
Florida ranks No. 4 in the nation for unintentional drowning deaths with an age-adjusted rate of 2.03 per 100,000 population behind Louisiana, Hawaii and Alaska between 2016-20, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
And from 2017-2019, Florida ranked No. 1 in the U.S. for unintentional drowning death rate among children ages 1-4, Florida Department of Health data shows.