Ocean City first responders rescued three young swimmers from the ocean on Saturday after they were caught in a rip current off 10th Street.
An emergency call came in at approximately noon. Ocean City Beach Patrol personnel who were working at 12th Street to prepare for the opening of guarded beaches on Memorial Day weekend launched a personal watercraft and responded with guards transported in an all-terrain vehicle, according to a city news release.
The guards swam to rescue two swimmers and spotted a shirt in the waves.
They signaled to the personal watercraft operator, who reached and rescued a third swimmer who was submerged. Ocean City Fire Department personnel launched a second personal watercraft to assist. Two other victims were able to make it onto the beach without assistance.
Fire, Beach Patrol and police responders performed multiple rounds of CPR on the submerged victim, a 12-year-old boy from Mays Landing, before he was transported to Shore Medical Center, where he was breathing on his own but unresponsive, the release stated.
He was later transported to the Trauma Center at Cooper University Hospital. The other two swimmers, both juveniles from Hammonton, were also transported to Shore Medical Center as a precaution.
The ocean temperature on Saturday was 55 degrees, and surf conditions were calm.
