A 13-year-old girl drowned in the water off a Jersey Shore beach, according to police.
Calls came in to police just after 6:30 p.m. about a swimmer in distress off the 8th Avenue beach in Belmar. When officers arrived, they found one swimmer was out of the water, but another child was still missing.
Water rescue teams arrived at the scene to conduct a search. Around 7:30 p.m., the teenage girl was found unresponsive in the water off about a block away, according to police. She was pulled out of the water, with lifeguards and EMS performing CPR in an effort to resuscitate her.
The teen was taken to Jersey Shore University Hospital, where she died, police said.
Further information was not available. Lifeguards were off-duty at the time of the drowning, and are generally off-duty after 6 p.m. at many Jersey Shore beaches.
It marks the second deadly drowning along the Jersey Shore in just a week. On Monday, five family members had to be plucked out of the ocean after they got caught in a rip current in Seaside Heights.
One of the family members, a 31-year-old man from Trenton, died, police said. Two other swimmers were taken to the hospital.
Fire department officials said the people were swimming in unprotected beaches at the time of the rescue.
There were reports of 12 other people who got stuck in a rip current over the weekend and needed to be rescued, according to the Seaside Heights Fire Department.
The recent incidents led to Seaside Heights making immediate changes to beach regulations and safety:
- Before, gates to the beaches normally closed at 7 p.m., but now the gates will be closed at least one hour earlier if lifeguards are off duty and depending on ocean conditions, officials explained.
- More police officers will now be patrolling unguarded beaches.
- If anyone is caught going back into the water after they were told to leave the surf, they will be ticketed by a police officer.
- Seaside Heights Mayor Anthony Vaz says that he wants posted signs to have warnings written in Spanish as well as English.
Emily Rose Grassi and Ted Greenberg contributed to this report.
