BATON ROUGE-The Christo Rey track coach drowned Friday while on a family vacation to Destin, Fla.

Carlos Rodriguez, 36, was seen struggling in the Gulf of Mexico around 2 p.m. Bystanders tried to help rescue him, but they were pulled under water themselves, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.

When Rodriguez was pulled from the water, he was unconscious. He was taken to a Coast Guard station to wait for a medical helicopter, but could not be revived.

A witness told the Northwest Florida Daily News that Rodriguez appeared to have been separated from his wife by the current.  A pontoon boat reached them first and boaters used a flat board to get him to the beach, where a nurse began CPR.

Rodriguez had been working at Cristo Rey High School for less than a year where he also taught Physical Education.