Swimmer rescued off Ocean Grove after search
Posted by the Asbury Park Press (APP.com)
NEPTUNE – A woman who took a evening swim Monday night had to be rescued after she caught in a rip current and pulled more than 100 yards off the beach in Ocean Grove.
The woman, who wasn’t identified, was rescued by 9:15 p.m. by members of the ANSWER team and the Coast Guard, according to Mike Bascom of the ANSWER team. She was helped onto a Coast Guard boat and taken back to Manasquan Coast Guard station were she was given medical treatment and evaluation, Bascom said.
“We have a happy ending. She’s extremely fortunate to have survived this event and to be walking away in the good condition that she is,” said Bascom.
The search, which began just minutes before 9 p.m., was was confined to a two-block area because off Ocean Pathway, Bascom said. “She was drifting south from the last location,” he said.
The woman had gone swimming by herself after the lifeguards were gone for the day.
“A fisherman noticed she was in distress and was being pulled out further. He called 911 and that activated the ANSWER team and the Coast Guard responded. We had rescue swimmers and kayaks in the water as well as our boat and the Coast Guard boat. We were fortunate to be able to locate here,” Bascom said.
The Coast Guard station at Manasquan sent a 25-foot vessel to the scene and a crew member spotted the woman in the water, said BM1 Thomas Frantz, a Coast Guard spokesman. “The vessel pulled along side of her and she was taken to the station at Shark River where they were met by the first aid squad,” he said.
He did not know the woman’s condition Monday night.
Bascom and John ‘Chip’ More did not know the woman’s identity, but believed she was staying locally.
“The ANSWER team responded with approximately 15 rescue swimmers in water and 8 rescue divers on scene ready to go in,” he said. Emergency medical services responded from Ocean Grove, Shark River Hills and Avon as well as emergency management from Neptune Township and Avon. Neptune Township police were on the scene, he said.
The ANSWER team is the Area Network of Shore Water Emergency Responders. It is comprised of volunteers from Avon, Bradley Beach, Neptune Township and Neptune City. It responds to water emergencies in each of the four municipalities and Ocean Grove. It provides mutual aid response to other municipalities when requested, Bascom said.