Boy, 10, rescued by dive team member in Point Pleasant Beach Saturday

The quick action by a Point Pleasant First Aid and Emergency Squad Rescue Dive Team member is credited with saving a child from drowning in Point Pleasant Beach Saturday.

Volunteer members were patrolling the beach between Martell’s Tiki Bar and Jenkinson’s Saturday evening when a woman approached, inquiring about their presence, according to a release.

As they spoke, the woman glanced toward the ocean and saw her 10-year-old son get caught in a rip current and pulled under, the release states.

Paul DeSalvo, a team diver, quickly entered the water.

“The boy was about 40-feet out and panicking. I was swimming toward him, and he disappeared for a moment and went under,” DeSalvo tells Jersey Shore Hurricane News. “I went under about two to three feet and saw his trunks. I pulled him to the surface, gave him the rescue can, and swam him to shore safely.”

While the boy was uninjured, his family transported him to a local hospital for an evaluation, DeSalvo said. 

This summer was the dive team’s inaugural season of having a crew patrol the beaches between the Manasquan Inlet and Mantoloking during the evening hours when lifeguards are off-duty, and its members are pleased that they were positioned perfectly to react Saturday evening. 

“The entire summer of training and preparing for just such an incident paid off in split second of action. The odds of him going under while the rescue team was in sight are unbelievable but he is alive and well and, thankfully, not the subject of a search and recovery by the area emergency services.”

Squad members offer the following water safety advice:

No swimming in unprotected waters unless you have others with you.
Watch out for rip currents, especially without lifeguards present, after hours, or off-season.
If you or a family member are dragged under the water, have water in the lungs, and are coughing and spitting up, it is vitally important to seek medical attention at the hospital.