Drowning Victim In Beach Haven Identified

BEACH HAVEN, NJ — A man from the Dominican Republic has been identified as the swimmer who died Sunday after getting caught in a rip current, officials said Monday.

Edwin Antonio Made Sanchez, 22, was pronounced dead Sunday at 5:18 p.m., Beach Haven Police Sgt. Lisa Fay said.

Sanchez was one of three swimmers who got caught in a rip current off 5th Street in Beach Haven shortly before 3 p.m. Sunday, the Beach Haven Beach Patrol said in a statement provided by Fay.

The lifeguards at that beach called for back-up assistance, just as there were two other incidents where lifeguards called for additional help, for an unconscious beach patron on Leeward Avenue and a general medical on Center Street, the beach patrol said.

The 5th Street lifeguards were able to reach two of the struggling swimmers, the beach patrol said. The third — Sanchez — had gone under water, they said.

The two lifeguards on duty at the 5th Street beach got the first two swimmers to shore safely while others kept searching for Sanchez, the beach patrol said. Lifeguards arrived from other Beach Haven beaches, with 15 forming a human chain to search the shallows and the sandbar for Sanchez, while five more lifeguards on paddleboards and a Jetski began searching deeper water.

Sanchez was located and pulled from the water, and attempts were made to resuscitate him by members of the Beach Haven First Aid Squad and Hackensack Meridian Health, the beach patrol said, he did not survive.

The Beach Haven Beach Patrol efforts were coordinated by Chief Megan Marro Skelly. The search efforts were supplemented by the arrival of the Beach Haven Police Department, Beach Haven Fire Department, the U.S. Coast Guard, and New Jersey State Police.