Town of Palm Beach Fire Rescue responded to reports of several swimmers in distress in the area of Midtown Beach at just after 5:00 PM Monday.

One of the swimmers, a man in his 40s, suffered cardiac arrest and died at the scene, and five others have been hospitalized including a first responder.

Their condition has not been released by officials and South Ocean Blvd. was closed for some time while rescuers were on the scene.

There were no lifeguards on duty at the time of the incident.

The National Weather Service in Miami issued a high rip current risk for Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade Counties Monday morning, and it remains in effect until 8:00 PM Tuesday.

Rip currents are strong, outward flowing currents that move away from shore very swiftly.

People caught in them sometimes panic and attempt to swim against the current to get back to shore but tire out and suffer death or injury from drowning.

Ocean safety experts always recommend swimming near a lifeguard and if you are caught in a rip current you should swim parallel to the shore until you escape the outflow and can swim back to shore with no resistance.