WEEKEND RIP CURRENTS IN DESTIN END LIVES OF EGLIN AIRMAN, GEORGIA MAN (UPDATED with PHOTOS)

Two people who drowned off of Destin beaches this weekend were identified Monday.

The first victim was identified by friends as Joseph Jones, a 39-year-old from Riverdale, Ga.

He died late Friday afternoon after going in to help two girls caught in a rip current. They made it out safely, but Jones was pulled out by beachgoers and taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

On Saturday, Airman 1st Class Josh Roussell, who was with the 46th Test Wing on Eglin Air Force Base, died after he was pulled out in a rip current while playing football in waist-deep water with his brother-in-law, according to a base spokesperson.

His brother-in-law was able to get out of the water, but Roussell was pulled out by off-duty lifeguards. He was also taken to the hospital but could not be revived.

"We are deeply saddened by the untimely death of A1C Josh Roussell," said Col. Jeff Murray, vice commander, 46th Test Wing. "Our thoughts and condolences are with his family."

Both drownings occurred after lifeguards had left the beach for the day.

Red flags were flying during the day on Friday and Saturday, but they were taken down by lifeguards at the end of their shifts. That's standard procedure, according to Destin Fire Control District personnel.

Destin Fire Control District Beach Safety Division Chief Joe D'Agostino said the surf was rough on Friday but calmer on Saturday. Rip currents are a common condition in local waters, and they are not always obvious to inexperienced swimmers.

"You get a lot of rip currents without big surf," D'Agostino said of Panhandle beaches. "Our waves are really, really small. It's our rip currents - they're huge, they're very well-defined."

Friends of Jones are calling him a hero for trying to save the young girls. His own family was on the beach with him when he went into the water to try to help.

"He was a good guy," said Jeff Carroll, who lives in south Florida but went to high school with Jones. "That's so sad. You almost, when you hear something like that, you want it to be reversible."

He added that he was praying for Jones' family.

D'Agostino said too many times would-be rescuers become the victims. It's better to call 911, he said.

"I wouldn't tell anybody to go in there after somebody if they don't have experience and they don't know how to effect a rescue," he said.

"The problem is most people don't swim as well as they think they can," he added.

He added that many rely on being able to stand on the bottom, but when they lose their footing, they are in trouble.

Carroll, who moved to Florida from New Jersey, said he was caught in a rip current two years ago and it was the "scariest feeling" in his life. He and Jones attended high school together in Teaneck, N.J.

"Riptides are so dangerous," Carroll said, comparing them to the black ice of his childhood.