People drown in England with rips in the sea. It’s basically a lack of education about being in the sea, especially in a rip. Even people on here stating “A rip drags you down” which it does not do. As a ex surfer rips can sometimes be your friend. Surfing in Morocco with a rip on one side of the beach. We’d surf in and paddle into the rip which took us out through waves very quickly, then we paddled out the side back into the lineup to surf in again. People in a rip tend to try to fight it and get tired because you cannot fight the rip, then they panic and drown. If they just floated in the rip it would carry them out at worst half a mile, then then they could float back in on the waves heading to the beach. Or just swim away from the beach angling out of the rip at a forty five degree angle, and it will push you out pretty quickly, probably around a couple of hundred yards from the beach….an easy swim. Sadly with no water knowledge they drown fighting it pretty quickly.
Remember an 18 year old lifeguard on a beach in Cornwall. Three people got into difficulty. He swam out and saved one, back out again and got the second, but by the time he reached the third one it was to late. Then this brave young man had to attend a coroners hearing and explain what happened. Extremely traumatic for him, and especially as he had lost one person. These days in Australia on some beaches they can send a flotation device out on a drone and drop it to the person in trouble, This allows the lifeguard time to get there on a board or jet ski.