Dramatic moment marine veteran Stephen Houser saves swimmer caught in rip tide at Sea Bright beach in New Jersey – as three die in rough waves over the weekend
Dramatic moment Marine veteran Stephen Houser saves swimmer trapped in high tide on New Jersey’s Sea Bright beach – as three people die in rough waves this weekend
- A Navy veteran saved the life of a drowning swimmer trapped in high tide along the Jersey Shore
- The veteran filmed himself surfing and captured the dramatic rescue on camera
- Three others drowned in dangerous currents along the Jersey Shore over Labor Day weekend
This is the dramatic moment when a New Jersey Navy veteran rescued a swimmer trapped in a tidal wave.
Stephen Houser, 35, who was out with his family was filming a YouTube video of him surfing when he saw it Gabe McCabe struggles in the water off Sea Bright Beach.
Houser used his surfboard as a life raft to pull the struggling swimmer out of the dangerous waters.
The surfer told ABC7: ‘With that current it could have ended really deadly. I just had that inflatable board that I had, a whole floating board. When Gabe grabbed that board, I knew I had it.”
Salvation came when three swimmers died along the Jersey Sore over Labor Day weekend amid high tide warnings along the East Coast.
Houser saved McCabe’s life when he nearly drowned in the rough waters on a beach in Sea Bright, New Jersey
Marine veteran Stephen Houser saved swimmer Gabe McCabe from drowning in the dangerous tide along the Jersey Shore
McCabe told Good morning America: ‘I’ve never experienced anything like it.’
Houser has saved swimmers in the past and had his own experience of getting stuck in rip currents and said ‘your first instinct is to panic’.
McCabe said, “I’m not sure I’d be here today, but luckily I am.”
Others who swam on the beaches along the Jersey Shore during Labor Day weekend weren’t so lucky.
A 22-year-old man drowned Sunday afternoon in Beach Haven, New Jersey was identified as Edwin Antonio Made Sanchez from the Dominican Republic.
Sanchez was swimming in the ocean off Fifth Street Beach in Beach Haven, Ocean County, when he drowned in the rough waves caused by rip currents.
Two other swimmers got caught in the dangerous tidal waves in Beach Haven along with Sanchez, prompting the lifeguards to create a human chain to search for them.
Lifeguards pulled the two swimmers safely to shore, but efforts by police and emergency medical services in the area failed to save the 22-year-old man from drowning in the rough waters.
Houser had saved swimmers in the past and said he had gotten into the currents in the past
Houser was surfing nearby with his family and filmed himself when he noticed McCabe struggling and rushed over to rescue him
Swimmers at Belmar Beach, New Jersey, faced strong currents and five swimmers had to be rescued from drowning over the weekend.
A sixth person was pulled from the water by officials but did not respond and was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
On the Jersey Shore’s Seaside Park Beach, six more swimmers were in distress, prompting a search by the U.S. Coast Guard.
Five of the six swimmers were found and rescued, but the sixth person, a 31-year-old male swimmer, is still lost despite nightly efforts by the USGC to find the victim.