Three people died Thursday after being dragged from the rocks into the ocean on a coast in the Malibu area, authorities said. Two men and a woman were with five other family members fishing along the Pacific Coast Highway when a wave washed over them shortly after 4:30 pm, authorities said.
All three were pulled from the Deer Creek Beach water, but efforts to revive them failed and were declared dead at the scene, according to the Ventura County Fire Department. The names of the victims were not immediately released.
CBS Los Angeles reports that investigators said the three victims were with their family just before they were thrown into the water. It was believed that they may have been fishing.
“Weather conditions and wave conditions are very similar to what you see now,” said McGrath. “The waves were not abnormally large for the time period and the tide was normal.”
The Ventura County Fire Department along with the sheriff’s department put out chaplains to help family members in shock at what they saw, the station reported.
“Unfortunately, it can be a dangerous place because it is so rocky and the beach and sand slopes downward,” Ventura County Sheriff Captain Eric Buschow told the Los Angeles Times. “Things may seem very quiet for a moment, but once in a while you can have a big wave that can crash on you.”
The area is close to Pt. Mugu State Park and a few miles northwest of Malibu.
CBS Los Angeles
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