A Florida mother thought she and her son were going to die when the giant swan float they were aboard was carried miles out to sea last month. 

Speaking to Inside Edition, Tara Myers opened up about the sheer terror she experienced when she realized she wasn't going to be able to get back to shore. 

"It was pretty much pure panic," Myers said. "I started paddling back and kicking. I was still on the swan float, but kicking and paddling trying to fight the current to get us back to where I could get off the raft.

"But the current was so strong, it kept pushing us back."

Myers, who grew up on the Gulf of Mexico, said the water appeared perfectly calm that day when she set out with her 7-year-old son, Brennan. Fortunately, witnesses on the beach stopped the mother and son floating away and called 911 to rescue the pair.

Myers is now warning others to be alert, encouraging everyone to use caution when taking the popular giant rafts out for a ride. 

"It can happen to anyone," she said.

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