Two men and a woman died Thursday after they were swept off rocks along the shoreline north of Malibu and into the ocean, authorities said.
The victims were with five other family members fishing along the Pacific Coast Highway when a wave washed them away shortly after 4:30 p.m., authorities said. The area is rocky with steep slopes of sand.
“Unfortunately, it can be a dangerous place because it is very rocky and the beach and sand slopes straight down,” Ventura County Sheriff’s Capt. Eric Buschow told the Los Angeles Times. “Things can look very calm one moment, but every once in a while you can have a large wave that can crash down upon you.”
The three were pulled from the water off of Deer Creek Beach but efforts to revive them failed and they died at the scene, according to the Ventura County Fire Department.
Conditions were clear at the time and waves were not abnormally large, the fire department said.
The names of the victims weren’t immediately released.
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The area is near Pt. Mugu State Park and a few miles northwest of Malibu.
