Overview

• The victim, a 31-year-old man swimming with his children, was pulled half-submerged from an unguarded beach and pronounced dead at Community Medical Center.
• Within two minutes of a 6:56 p.m. distress call, Seaside Heights Fire Department rescuers using a jet ski and rescue swimmer saved six others caught in the rip current.
• Lifeguards had left for the day around 5 p.m. and a red-flag warning restricted swimmers to knee-deep water before the late-evening incident.
• The same night, a 77-year-old woman drowned at Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn, spurring fresh warnings about rip-current hazards.
• Officials have issued red-flag advisories and plan to add beach signage, close gates earlier in rough conditions and boost public education on rip-current safety.