OCEAN CITY — A potential tragedy was averted last weekend when the U.S. Coast Guard and the Ocean City Beach Patrol partnered on the rescue of two swimmers swept out to sea by a strong current near the Inlet.
A Coast Guard crew was on scene providing safety operations during the OC Air Show last Saturday afternoon when the incident unfolded. The Coast Guard crew heard a call over marine-band radio channel 16 reporting four people in the water near the Inlet. The Coast Guard boat crew immediately responded and found two men and four Ocean City Beach Patrol lifeguards in the water.
One of the men had entered the water by the jetty and was swept away by the strong current last Saturday afternoon. The second man jumped into the ocean from the jetty in an attempt to rescue the first man and quickly found himself in trouble in the swirling current.
Lifeguards involved in the rescue were brought onboard the responding U.S. Coast Guard vessel.
Four Ocean City Beach Patrol (OCBP) lifeguards quickly responded and entered the ocean to attempt saving the two struggling swimmers. The lifeguards were still in the water when the Coast Guard boat crew arrived on scene. The Coast Guard crew successfully took the two men aboard their vessel and transported them to Coast Guard Station Ocean City, where they refused medical attention.
“It’s always great when we can work with partner agencies such as the Ocean City Beach Patrol to save lives,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Joshua Elliott, a crewmember from Coast Guard Station Ocean City. “We always recommend swimming in areas where lifeguards are present in order to reduce the risk of situations like these from becoming much worse.”
OCBP issued a statement about the incident this week.
“There was a northeast littoral current and it is our standard protocol when victims are caught in a rip current at the south rocks to go make the rescue and let the current take them into the Inlet away from the dangerous rocks,” the statement read. “The guards know that a Coast Guard or DNR vessel will be on its way to retrieve them. We always send two guards in per victim. One guard to keep the victim afloat and one to hold a buoy up in the air to keep passing boats away and aware that people are in the water. … The reason there was a second victim was because that victim (brother of the original victim) swam toward the rescue as the guards were making contact with the first victim. This allowed the brother to be taken away from shore by the same rip current, resulting in a second need for a rescue. It was a standard Inlet rescue and we train each lifeguard in the technique. We also train each year with the Coast Guard and DNR to practice working together in this type of rescue. As the Surf Rescue Technicians kept the victims calm and afloat, pleasure boats did stop and offer assistance until USCG was on scene and assisted all personnel out of the water. This rescue was performed as practiced according to our protocols and there were no injuries to the victims. Although, to the many spectators on the Inlet jetty it made an exciting show.”
