Beach rescue
Shock and disbelief on Santa Barbara’s East Beach. (John Palminteri / KEYT News photo)

A woman died Sunday after being pulled from the water in distress at East Beach, according to the Santa Barbara Police Department.

Emergency personnel were dispatched shortly before 10 a.m. to the shoreline near the volleyball courts, said Lt. Dan McGrew.

The woman, whose name was not released pending notification of relatives, had gone to the beach to swim with a group of friends, McGrew said.

“Sometime after they started, people from the beach saw her in some kind of distress,” McGrew said, adding that they brought her in to shore and began CPR.

Despite the efforts of firefighters and paramedics, the woman was declared dead at the scene.

The case was turned over to the Santa Barbara County Coroner’s Bureau.

Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.

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Tom Bolton, Noozhawk Executive Editor

Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com.