Oregon Safety Alert: As Weather Improves, People are Warned to Be Careful at the Beach

"How to play it safe: Never turn your back on the ocean."

That's the warning from the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department when it comes to sneaker waves.

And it's being circulated again because twice on Friday, visitors to the Oregon coast have apparently drowned.

The first incident happened around 10:30 Friday morning. A man in his 20s fell into the Ocean by Depoe Bay and is presumed drowned.

The second incident happened Friday night.

Around 8 p.m. someone called 911 saying their friend, a Portland native and student at the University of Oregon, had gone swimming near Florence and never resurfaced.

The Coast Guard and other agencies searched around 100 square miles north and south of the Siuslaw River jetties.

"They're called sneaker waves because they appear without warning, often surging high up on the beach with deadly force, and are impossible to predict. Sneaker waves also carry a large amount of sand that can saturate your clothes, weighing you down and making escape difficult if not impossible," the state says on the website.