Parents drown after being caught in rip current while on vacation in Florida with their 6 children

Brian Warter, 51, and Erica Wishard, 48, were “in panic mode” and unable to “swim parallel to shore,” authorities said.

A Pennsylvania couple died after being caught in a rip current at a Florida beach, authorities said.

Brian Warter, 51, and Erica Wishard, 48, were swimming with their children off Hutchinson Island on Thursday, June 20, when the strong tide swept the couple far from shore, according to a Facebook post from the Martin County Sheriff’s Office.

Warter and Wishard’s two teenage boys were also swept away by the current, but they managed to swim out and tried to help their parents — until “it became too dangerous and they were forced to swim to shore,” the sheriff’s office said.

Martin County Ocean Rescue rescuers located the adults and began CPR. The couple was then transported to Cleveland Clinic Martin North Hospital in Stuart where they were pronounced dead, according to the sheriff’s office.

Related: 3 people injured in 2 separate shark attacks on nearby Florida beaches: ‘This is an anomaly’

A deputy with the Martin County Sheriff’s Crisis Intervention Team assisted the couple’s children throughout the day and evening as they awaited the arrival of other family members traveling to Florida following the tragedy.

According to The Philadelphia InquirerThe family originated from Chester County, Pennsylvania.

The accident happened around 1:30 p.m. local time near the Marriott Hutchinson Island hotel, ABC affiliate WPVI-TV reported.

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“Multiple witnesses told our investigators that the deceased man and woman fell into the ocean, directly into a rip current and were immediately swept ashore,” Martin County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy John Budensiek told ABC affiliate WPBF-TV. “One of the deceased’s children tried to yell instructions to them on how to swim parallel to shore, but they were in panic mode and unfortunately sank.”

Experts advise anyone caught in a rip current to swim parallel to shore.

Related: Rip Currents Have Killed 65 People This Year — What Experts and Victims’ Relatives Tell Beachgoers

“If you’re caught in a rip current, don’t panic,” rip current expert Stephen Leatherman told PEOPLE last year. “Just swim sideways. Swim along the shoreline and you’ll get out of the rip current. Any time you can’t touch the bottom and you’re not a strong swimmer, or you panic and start fighting the current, that’s when you drown.”

Eleven other deaths have been attributed to rip currents so far in 2024, according to National Weather Service data.

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