Same thing happens here along the Northern California coast. With El Nino this year, the waves are bigger and more powerful than a typical winter and catch people unaware. There are occasional "sneaker" waves that break on the beach and knock people down.
There was a story from last week, in France. The guy filming is apparently handicapped, but there was a fifth person who entered the scene afterwards and saved all of them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSgSMZsMh4A
We have a beach in Iceland that people go to take photos, and tourists get sucked out into the ocean all the time because they ignore the signs, tour guides, and common sense.
Just last week there was a lot of fuss in the news about how reckless the tourists are becoming, and then the very next day after the news hype, a tourist was sucked out into the sea and drowned.. and this happens despite there being lots of other people nearby.
It's gotten to the point that some tour guides have just stopped going there because people just don't listen to warnings or understand the danger.
A few weeks ago a couple of people died after BASE jumping off of Bixby Bridge near Big Sur. After the first jumper successfully landed, she was swept out to see by a series of big waves. Caught on the second jumper's GoPro, he followed her down, jettisoned his equipment, then dove into the water to save her. So far only his body has been found.
Recently: http://www.mercurynews.com/central-coast/ci_29405514/san-jos...
http://abc7news.com/news/pacifica-man-drowns-trying-to-save-...