Wave Hits Couple Walking on Beach, Only One Survives

A 60-year-old man from Northern California is dead after he and his wife were swept out to sea by a powerful wave earlier this week, CBS San Francisco reports. It appears Larry and Claudia Moore were walking along the beach near Pacifica Pier when a sneaker wave pulled Claudia Moore into the ocean, according to KRON. Larry Moore attempted to rescue his wife but was swept further out by a rip tide, reports ABC7. A witness tells KTVU that Larry Moore tried to fight the rip tide, while his wife let it carry her further out, which may have saved her life. Another bystander dove in and rescued her: "I grabbed her and helped her get up the beach," surfer Trevor Griffiths tells ABC 7.

Coast Guard rescuers in a helicopter later pulled Larry Moore from the water—accounts say he was in there anywhere from 15 minutes to more than an hour—and he was pronounced dead five minutes after the rescue. Claudia Moore tells KTVU that she had told her husband to go for help instead of trying to rescue her, because she felt she could stay afloat. Signs warn visitors about rip tides and sneaker waves all along Sharp Park Beach. "We've had a lot of people pass away here, unfortunately," one person tells ABC7. (A man vacationing with his family drowned while trying to rescue a woman.)