Parents drown in rip current while on Florida beach vacation with their six kids

A Pennsylvania mother and father drowned in a rip current while on a Florida beach vacation with their six children. Two of their teenage kids attempted to save them, but the current grew too strong and swept Brian Warter, 51, and Erica Wishard, 48, out to sea.

The tragic incident occurred off Stuart Beach in Hutchinson Island Thursday afternoon, ABC News reports.

Martin County Ocean Rescue found the couple and attempted to revive them through CPR on shore. The mom and dad of six were transported to the hospital and pronounced dead, officials said.

The sheriff's office said that its crisis intervention team deputy is helping the children while they wait for family members to come pick them up in Florida.

The beach has been closed to the public and authorities said it would reevaluate conditions Friday morning.

This tragedy comes as extreme rip currents have impacted East Coast beaches from Florida to New York over the past week, with four additional deaths and more than 150 swimmers needing to be rescued, per CBS News.

Three men from Birmingham, Alabama also drowned in a rip current while on vacation in Panama City Beach Friday evening. They have been identified as Harold Denzel Hunter, 25, Jemonda Ray, 24, and Marius Richardson, 24.

Gio Serrano, a lieutenant with Fort Lauderdale Ocean Rescue, said rip currents can be a trap since they usually appear without waves, according to CBS News.

Serrano said if an individual were to get caught in a rip current, don't attempt to fight against it or swim straight back to the shore. Instead, swim sideways until the individual finds themselves out of the current. After that, the person should start swimming back to the shore diagonally. He said swimming this way near a lifeguard tower would alert the lifeguards that the person needs help.