TRAGEDY IN BELMAR: 13-YEAR-OLD DROWNS AFTER BEING PULLED FROM OCEAN

A 13-year-old child died Friday evening after being pulled unresponsive from the ocean near the 7th Avenue beach in Belmar, authorities said.

Police said they received several 911 calls around 6:36 p.m. reporting swimmers in distress near the 8th Avenue beach. When officers arrived, one swimmer had made it to shore, but another—a juvenile—was missing.

The Belmar Water Rescue team launched a search and recovered the teen at 7:29 p.m. off the 7th Avenue beach. Despite immediate lifesaving efforts by lifeguards, EMS crews from Belmar and Wall, and Hackensack Meridian paramedics, the child could not be revived. The victim was later pronounced dead at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune.

Because of the victim’s age, police have not released the child’s identity. The incident remains under investigation.

Belmar lifeguards are on duty until 6 p.m. on Fridays, according to the borough’s website. The drowning occurred less than a week after a 31-year-old Trenton man drowned in Seaside Heights and just a day after two swimmers were rescued from rip currents in South Seaside Park after lifeguards had gone off duty.