Hundreds watch as stranded group led to safety in combined emergency services effort.

Six people stranded on the rocks near Corona del Mar were rescued by lifeguards and firefighters late Monday as hundreds of beachgoers watched from the shore.

The group may have been fishing from the rocks between Little Corona and Big Corona beaches when the tide came in and surf got too high for them to make it back to shore, said Newport Beach Lifeguard Capt. Brent Jacobsen.

“They just basically got into a situation where they couldn’t escape,” Jacobsen said.

A Newport Beach lifeguard on patrol at Corona del Mar State Beach at 8:30 p.m. spotted members of the group yelling for help. The lifeguard swam out to the rocks, but was unable to rescue the group because of the surf. Some of the people were “hysterical and upset,” Jacobsen said.

The water is about 3 feet deep where the group was stranded on the rocks, but reaching the shore was made difficult by continual swells, Jacobsen said.

Two of the people managed to get off the rocks and safely to shore. Jacobsen said it was unknown how they got to shore, but it’s possible they waded in.

The lifeguard was able to get the remaining people on shore, to a section of beach that had no outlet and was surrounded by cliffs. Fire Department officials reached the rescued beachgoers by a private path from the houses on the cliffs above.

The six people had minor injuries and were not taken to a hospital, Newport Fire Spokeswoman Jennifer Schulz said.

About 200 hundred people watched the rescue from shore and the cliffs above. The police helicopter, Eagle One, and the Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol assisted in lifeguards and firefighters in the rescue, Schulz said.

Fire Department officials said the rocks are dangerous and people should not climb on them or swim around them. The situation on Monday could have easily turned tragic, Jacobsen said.

“It’s a pretty dangerous spot to swim. It’s all rocky and there’s no beach there,” Jacobsen said.