Woman dies after being caught in apparent rip current, officials said
By MaryAnn Spoto | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on June 20, 2016 at 12:58 PM, updated June 20, 2016 at 3:51 PM
A file photo of an overturned lifeguard stand, indicating lifeguards are not on duty. A woman died after being swept into the ocean on an unguarded beach in Long Beach Township on Saturday, officials said.File photo UPDATE: Woman who died in apparent rip current was at LBI for wedding, officials say LONG BEACH TOWNSHIP — A 24-year-old New York woman has died after being swept out into the ocean in an apparent rip current off Long Beach Island on Saturday, authorities said Monday.
The woman, who was only identified as being from Port Chester, NY., and a male companion were knocked off their feet by a wave and pulled out into the ocean off the Spray Beach section of Long Beach Township on Saturday, said Lt. Chuck Schnell, a Long Beach Township police spokesman.
The woman was rushed to Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin, where officials said on Saturday she was in critical condition. She was later airlifted to a hospital in Philadelphia, where she died early Sunday morning, Long Beach Township Mayor Joseph Mancini said.
Schnell said police were called at 11:12 a.m. to the 24th Street beach on a report of a swimmer in distress. No lifeguards were on duty at the time, Long Beach Township Beach Patrol said on Saturday. Lifeguards officially started guarding the beaches on Sunday, according to its website.
Schnell said it appears the pair got caught in a rip current and pulled out to where they could no longer touch bottom.
When Patrolman Thomas Franks arrived, several good Samaritans were already performing CPR on the woman at the water's edge, Schnell said. Emergency responders also used a defibrillator on her, he said.
This was the second water rescue-related death in Long Beach Township this month. On June 5, a Watchung man died after helping to pull a group of teens from an apparent rip tide. James Clarke, 55, collapsed in the surf after he went to the aid of the teens, including his 15-year-old son.