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Ocean City Beach Patrol lifeguards finished their shift at 5 p.m. Monday, and there was still no sign of a swimmer reported missing off Ninth Street on Sunday evening. By nightfall, the Philadelphia teenager was still missing and presumed drowned.
Coast Guard helicopters searched from the air, Ocean City police, fire and beach patrols from the beach, and marine units from the sea on Monday (June 30) in an attempt to find a swimmer reported missing off Ninth Street on Sunday evening.
The Coast Guard called off its search at 4 p.m.
“The search of the immediate area will continue throughout the day,” Ocean City Fire Chief Chris Breunig said earlier on Monday. “The local police department is with the family and conducting an investigation into the matter. Names are being withheld due to the age of the victim.”
A massive search for the swimmer was temporarily called off as darkness set in on Sunday night.
The Ocean Beach Patrol’s Rapid Response Team was deployed at 6:45 p.m. Sunday (June 29) after receiving a call about multiple swimmers in distress near the Ninth Street jetty, according to Breunig, who oversees the beach patrol.
Responding within a minute on personal watercraft and from the beach, OCBP lifeguards rescued 14 of 15 swimmers, Breunig said.
According to unconfirmed reports, a Philadelphia family of two parents and two children were among the rescued. A third child, a 14-year-old boy, did not return to the beach.
Teams of firefighters and beach patrol began searching the water utilizing ropes and rescue equipment. The nearby jetty was searched with divers and swimmers.
The U.S. Coast Guard, the Ocean City Fire Department, and the marine units of the Ocean City Police Department and New Jersey State Police assisted in the search on Sunday evening.
A jetty at Ninth Street forms a strong rip current that pulls swimmers into deeper water, and the beach has been the site of several drownings and near-drownings when the Ocean City Beach Patrol is off-duty.
The dangerous conditions there were part of the reason the OCBP formed its Rapid Response Team in 2012. The team is a mobile unit that does not patrol individual beaches but is able to travel by Waverunner or ATV to conduct rescues. It operates from the 12th Street OCBP headquarters until 8 p.m. The OCBP also guards Ninth Street and other downtown beaches for extended hours on Fridays and Saturdays.
On Sundays, the beach patrol leaves work at 5:30 p.m., and witnesses reported hearing the lifeguards issue their customary warning to bathers to stay out of the water when the beach is unpatrolled.
The Ocean City Beach Patrol boasts that nobody has ever drowned on a patrolled beach in its 116-year history.
Breunig said some of the swimmers rescued on Sunday evening got in trouble after slipping on rocks while playing on the jetty. Others may have gotten into trouble in an attempt to rescue the initial swimmers in distress.
A light southeast wind created some small waves and chop on Sunday afternoon and evening. Witnesses said bathers had been able to reach a sandbar for much of the day, but low tide passed at about 3:30 p.m. on Sunday.
The beach at Ninth Street is clearly marked with permanent and temporary signs warning bathers that the beach is closed when lifeguards are not on duty.
“We discourage people from swimming after hours and to only swim at guarded beaches,” Breunig said.
The downtown beaches including Ninth Street were packed with beachgoers throughout Monday.
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