Editor’s note: This story will be updated.
CAPE MAY POINT — An off-duty lifeguard saved the life of a 10-year-old girl in a dramatic rescue Aug. 12 on the beach at Lehigh Avenue.
According to Deputy Mayor Elise Geiger, the unidentified girl was “seconds away from drowning” while swimming after lifeguards were off-duty. Several bystanders entered the water to attempt a rescue and were overcome by the current, she said.
Cape May Point Beach Patrol lifeguard Ryan Gibson, who was on a nearby beach playing volleyball, entered the water without any rescue equipment and was able to get to the girl and pull her to the rocks on the jetty.
Gibson secured the girl until first responders and two other responding guards, Matt Gibson and Chief Ben Swan, reached the scene to get girl and the others off the rock jetty and to safety.
“This rescue was extraordinary and far from normal beach business,” Geiger told the Cape May Star and Wave.
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