Three rescued from early rip current

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - On the shores of Virginia Beach, a little luck avoided a lot of tragedy when training turned into the real thing.

"We literally just walked on the beach and people came running and screaming to us," said lifeguard Robin Lang.

Lang, Scottie Norton, and April Barientos were on the beach before work at around 8 a.m., getting ready for an upcoming rescue race, when their morning turned into a race to save lives.

"A little girl had gone out too far," said Lang, "she started struggling, and two other guys went in after her."

Within moments, all three were in trouble and the lifeguards went in after them with only one buoy for three victims.

"The way that the current was, the way the waves were knocking against them," said Norton, looking at the water, "it was just really choppy."

Twenty yards separated the victims from the safety of the beach, but the current was moving too fast for anyone to get in alone.

"One was holding a little girl above the water and swimming himself," Lang remembered. "He was telling me to take the girl, but we were taking all of them."

And then someone trying to help in the rescue effort, only made the rescue worse when he too became a victim.

"Another victim on a bodyboard went in after we had already gotten in the water to help out," Norton said, "and he ended up needing help. He was struggling. He couldn't swim."

One adult was taken to the hospital. The little girl and the others were ok.