Authorities investigating two swimmers' deaths

The waters off North Wildwood were treacherous Tuesday afternoon. The tide was going out, and the currents south of the Hereford Inlet Lighthouse were strong enough to threaten even good swimmers.

Lifeguards constantly blew their whistles to caution people wading up to their waists, and they waved others away from unprotected areas of the inlet.

But at 5 p.m., the guards were off duty and the public beach was closed to swimming as 27-year-old Jamilah Watkins, a 15-year-old girl whom police have not identified, and another unidentified swimmer ventured into the surf.

Less than an hour later, the three were caught by a current that swept away and presumably drowned Watkins and the 15-year-old. The other swimmer struggled back to the beach.

"The water down there is very, very bad" because of the unusual nature of the inlet currents, said Charles Iepson, captain of North Wildwood Beach Patrol.

The Shore deaths just before the busy July Fourth weekend were the first two of the season, the Coast Guard said. Last year, one was recorded at the inlet. Officials said they've had as few as two drownings and as many as 20 at the Jersey Shore in a year.

"It's got to be safety first," said Boatswain's Mate First Class Dayna Schock, officer-of-the-day at the Coast Guard's Cape May Station yesterday. "With people going in the water during the upcoming holiday, you've got to be careful.

"If the lifeguards aren't present, you shouldn't be swimming."

On Tuesday, the guards whistled at swimmers, including one of the victims, as a way of directing them away from waters near an unguarded area of the beach, authorities said.

At 5, they ordered everyone out. Many left; some stayed on.

About 15 to 20 yards out from where the victims went in, the sandy bottom drops off dramatically. And the currents Tuesday were noticeably strong, said Iepson, the captain of the Beach Patrol.

By 5:58 p.m., North Wildwood police dispatchers had received two 911 calls from people reporting that three swimmers had been carried out by the waters near First and Surf Avenues.

Officers and Beach Patrol members responded, along with the Coast Guard's aviation unit and boats from the North Wildwood Volunteer Fire Company, Anglesea Volunteer Fire Company, Stone Harbor Fire Department, and state police marine unit.

Frank Stepnowski, 41, a teacher who lives in Pennsauken, had just left the beach and was walking back to his house a couple blocks away when he heard sirens.

He said his 11-year-old son, Mason, later saw rescuers trying to resuscitate the 15-year-old victim, a resident of Middletown, Conn. It was unclear yesterday if she was related to Watkins.

"It's shoulder to shoulder here on July Fourth," said Stepnowski, who described the currents Tuesday as the strongest he had seen in five years.

"If there is any silver lining to this before the big holiday, it's that it's going to make a lot of people wake up."

The Coast Guard found the body of Watkins, of South Carolina, who has relatives in Middle Township, Cape May County, shortly after 8 p.m. A relative reached yesterday declined to comment.

"It's our job to save lives," said Coast Guard Boatswain Mate Third Class McCormick Kennedy, who recovered the body about a mile offshore.

"When you get the scene and pull someone out of the water who is unresponsive, that's difficult. Fortunately, it doesn't happen too often. But it has happened before."

Kennedy said the victims apparently had been wading not far from the beach when the current - either a rip current or an unusually strong tidal current - dragged them into deep water.

"The beach there is a popular place," he said, "but you have to be careful. The current rushes out."

Rip currents are caused when waves break over a submerged sandbar, which inhibits the water from returning. A break in the sandbar forms, and water funnels through it at high velocity, causing a current that can sweep up swimmers and carry them seaward.

Experts advise swimmers caught in a rip current not to fight it, but to swim out of it by swimming parallel to the shore.

When free, swim toward the beach.

Yesterday, North Wildwood police detectives, the Cape May County Prosecutor's Office, and the Medical Examiner's Office were investigating the two deaths to determine their causes.

Authorities are "trying to figure out if it was rip current or tidal current," North Wildwood Police Capt. Robert Caruso said. "We don't know what their swimming abilities are. It's a tragedy all around."

Reacting to the news, North Wildwood Mayor Bill Henfey yesterday warned vacationers to exercise caution at the beach. "It's a shame they chose to swim when there were no guards there," he said.