OCEAN CITY — A potential tragedy was averted last weekend when the Ocean City Beach Patrol and the town’s Fire Department rescue swimmers were able to pull an adult male and a juvenile in distress from the ocean, but residents and visitors are reminded the patrol ceased off-season mobile operations on Monday.
Around 12:50 p.m. on Saturday, Ocean City Communications received a call that two individuals were in distress in the ocean at 71st Street. The Ocean City Beach Patrol, which stopped putting lifeguards in stands up and down the beach after Sunfest weekend but had maintained mobile patrols, along with Ocean City Fire Department rescue swimmers responded to the scene.
The two males, including an adult and a juvenile, were located and safely pulled from the water less than 10 minutes later. The adult was taken to an area hospital by ambulance with injuries not believed to be life-threatening. The juvenile was monitored at the scene and no further medical attention was required.
“Thankfully, our guards and Fire Department swimmers were able to get to the swimmers and bring them to safety to avoid what could have been a very tragic story,” said Ocean City Communications Director Jessica Waters.
The Beach Patrol continued to guard the beach and ocean from the stands with scaled down operations through much of September. After Sunfest weekend, the Beach Patrol still monitored the beach on a limited basis with officers on all-terrain vehicles and no personnel in the stands. However, those operations officially ended on Monday.
With the weather cooling and the number of visitors during the week steadily declining, the number of swimmers has declined in kind, but town officials are reminding visitors to continue to use caution when entering the ocean.
“With mobile patrols ending their season on Monday, it’s important to remind people to keep their feet in the sand if a lifeguard is not the stand,” said Waters.
Ocean City saw more than its fair share of ocean-related tragedies during the summer and early fall season including a total of six direct and indirect fatalities, and a seven if a drowning at Assateague in included. In mid-September, two ocean fatalities occurred on the same day.