PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. (AP) – Three Alabama men who went for an evening swim shortly after arriving at a beach in the Florida Panhandle were caught in a rip current and died, authorities said. It was the latest in a series of deaths in Florida waters after a Pennsylvania couple drowned off the state’s southeast coast, authorities said.

The young men from Alabama had traveled to the Panama City Beach area with a group of friends on Friday evening and had just checked into their rental car and gone swimming when they got into distress, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office said in an updated Facebook post Saturday evening.

“The three men were caught in a current shortly after entering the water,” the post said.

The sheriff’s office received the first 911 call about the swimmers in distress shortly after 8 p.m., officials said. The U.S. Coast Guard and others began rescue efforts. The men were found separately and eventually pronounced dead at area hospitals, authorities said.

The sheriff’s office identified the three as Birmingham, Alabama residents Harold Denzel Hunter, 25, Jemonda Ray, 24, and Marius Richardson, 24. Earlier this week, individual red flags were posted on the beach, indicating dangerous surf and current conditions.

On Thursday, a Pennsylvania couple visiting Florida with their six children drowned when they were caught in a rip current while swimming.

Brian Warter, 51, and 48-year-old Erica Wishard and two of their mostly teenage children were caught in the current on Hutchinson Island on Florida’s southeast coast, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post. It added that the two children freed themselves from the current and tried to help their parents but were forced to swim to shore when conditions became too dangerous.

Martin County Ocean Rescue attempted life-saving measures and transported the couple to a local hospital, where they were pronounced dead, according to the sheriff’s office.

The Associated Press