PORTLAND (WGME) — A Maine man passed away Wednesday after witnesses say he drowned while saving his kids from a rip current on a family vacation in Florida.
Officials in Palm Beach County say their rescue team at Juno Beach helped to bring four people to shore after a rip current formed, noting that they were not swimming in a guarded area.
According to a GoFundMe page started by a friend of the family, the victim, 46-year-old Ryan Jennings, died while saving two of his children.
The family told the Press Herald he threw his 12-year-old son away from the current as it formed and held his 9-year-old daughter above his head as the current took them.
The two children survived.
So far, the GoFundMe page has raised more than $90,000 for the family.