A man and a three-year-old child are dead and another man is missing after currents Friday swept them out to sea at a Tampa beach in Florida, authorities said.<\/p>\n
The man and the child were wading into the water when they “got taken by the strong current” at the beach, said Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister at a Friday news conference.<\/p>\n
They received a “frantic” 911 call from a woman, whose boyfriend, identified later as Kristoff Murray, 27, “saw that the adult and child were struggling.<\/p>\n
He “immediately, without hesitation, jumped into the water to try to help save the both of them” before getting swept up in the current as well, Chronister said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We are certainly calling him now, not just a good Samaritan, but our Apollo Beach hero,” he added.<\/p>\n
Later Friday, a\u00a0boater saw the\u00a0body of the man who had been with the child\u00a0in the water,\u00a0Chronister said. That man was recovered a short time later deceased, and the child was recovered a few minutes later and transported to the hospital where he died.<\/p>\n
As of Sunday afternoon, Murray was still missing. Authorities scaled back their search Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n