Two California students swept out to sea and drowned while napping on beach

Friends Harshita Nair, 21, and Mahial Sran, 20, were pulled out of water by rescue crews but died later at local hospitals

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Two college students died after being swept out to sea from a Santa Cruz beach as massive waves and dangerous rip currents inundated the California coastline in recent days.

Authorities confirmed this week that Harshita Nair, 21, and Mahial Sran, 20, were killed after the sudden swell at a Santa Cruz beach last Wednesday. Nair died last week while Sran died in a local hospital on Sunday.

The incident came a day after a five-year-old girl in southern California was killed when turbulent waters swept the child, who was walking with her mother and brother, out to sea from the shore of Treasure Island Beach in Orange county.

Authorities have urged people to take precautions while visiting beaches throughout the state as the coast faced treacherous conditions with the continuing king tides, a non-scientific term describing the highest tides of the year.

On 10 June, local authorities in Santa Cruz responded to a beach for an ocean rescue of two women who had been pulled into the water. A team of about eight rescue swimmers helped pull Nair and Sran from the water, and they were taken to local hospitals by ambulance and helicopters.

It was the fifth rescue firefighters had undertaken on that mile-long portion of coastline from Yellow Bank Beach to Bonny Doon Beach, the San Mateo-Santa Cruz unit of Cal Fire said in a statement online.

Kyle Breton, a Santa Cruz county volunteer fire captain, said in a video that officials believed the two friends were napping near a rock archway between two beaches when the water came in and swept them out.

Sran was a student at San Jose State University and Nair attended the University of California , Berkeley, the universities confirmed to media outlets.

In an obituary, Nair’s family remembered her as a “cherished sister, granddaughter and a treasured friend” who “always found a way to lift others up”.

“Harshita was truly full of life – radiating energy, warmth and joy wherever she went. She had a deep love for adventure and embraced every moment with enthusiasm and courage. Her spirit was contagious, her laughter uplifting and her presence comforting.”