Woman drowns while helping save 3 children at California beach

A woman was swept out to sea and drowned at a beach after she helped save three children, authorities said Monday.

Aarti Senthilvel, 47, of Pleasanton was visiting the beach south of San Francisco with her family and two others Sunday when 11 of the children and adults were pulled into the water by an undertow.

Senthilvel helped rescue three of the young children and teenagers, San Mateo County Sheriff’s Det. Rosemerry Blankswade said.

“While they were attending to the children, they didn’t realize she was taken by the undertow,” the detective said.

Emergency personnel arrived and pulled Senthilvel from the water but were unable to save her.

A relative said Senthilvel was known for helping others.

California State Parks Public Safety Supt. Bill Wolcott said the waves were small on Sunday at Cowell Ranch State Beach near Half Moon Bay, about 20 miles south of San Francisco.

But ocean currents always pose a risk, he said.

“Cowell Beach is definitely infamous for this type of current, and we want to remind everybody with the holiday coming up to be safe,” Blankswade said.

Senthilvel’s death followed three similar incidents in California last month in which people drowned or nearly died while rescuing children.

A father and daughter drowned in the San Joaquin River, the Visalia Times-Delta reported .

One person drowned and one nearly died trying to rescue children from the Kaweah River, about 160 miles north of Los Angeles.

Days later, a 7-month-old boy was rescued from the river, but his rescuer was seriously injured.

In early June, a 36-year-old Los Angeles man drowned in the same rapids.