HAMPTON, N.H. (AP) – The deaths of two Massachusetts men at Hampton Beach were the first at the popular tourist spot since 1969, state officials said Tuesday.

Carlos Reyes, 35, of Marlboro, Mass., and Alex Tapia, 26, of Worcester, Mass., were pulled unconscious from the water early Monday night and pronounced dead.

Reyes and about 10 other people went into the water around 6 p.m. Monday after Reyes’ stepson was swept away by a strong rip current in waist-deep water. Lifeguards had just gone off duty for the day.

The boy was later rescued.

“He jumped in to try to save me,” Jose Casillas said. “He kept throwing me out of the water so I could still breathe. Two minutes after, when I looked back, my dad wasn’t there.”

Casillas said his dad also threw a flotation device to him.

“He was my hero,” said Hector Guzman, Reyes’ brother-in-law.

The lifeguards work under the state Division of Parks and Recreation. Director Allison McLean said there were no warning signs near the area of water in which the swimmers were caught because rip currents can change location quickly.

But she said guards had been patrolling the beach all day Monday warning people about the currents.

Despite the accident, McLean said guards would continue following the same protocol for monitoring the beach, which she said can change daily.

“When you’re dealing with an uncontrolled situation, or a natural element of the ocean, we flex the way we look at things on a day-to-day basis,” she said.

McLean said lifeguards would still go off duty at 5:45 p.m. It was shortly after that time Monday that rescue crews were called to the beach.

Guards determined before they left that the situation was under control, she said.

“That’s the unfortunate part about any kind of natural environment – things can change in five minutes,” said McLean.