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NORTH WILDWOOD - The whistles blew just before 5:30 p.m. Wednesday as lifeguards motioned swimmers to come to shore at the Surf Avenue beach along the Hereford Inlet.

But after the guards were gone for the day, one or two swimmers decided to go back in.

It was likely the same decision 27-year-old Jamilah Watkins, of South Carolina, and 15-year-old Shayne Hart, of Middletown, Conn., had made the day before.

At 5:58 p.m. Tuesday, city police received two 911 calls reporting that three people were having problems swimming in the inlet.

When they arrived, one of the three girls, who were part of the same extended family, was out of the water, but the others, Watkins and Hart, were still in the inlet.

Within minutes, Hart was pulled from the water and cardiopulmonary resuscitation was administered as she was taken to Cape Regional Medical Center in Middle Township, where she was pronounced dead. About 1½ hours later, Watkins body was found.

Autopsies are scheduled to be conducted today, but the pair were likely caught in an outgoing tide, North Wildwood Beach Patrol Chief Tony Cavalier said Wednesday.

"In the inlet, you go out 15 yards and you're in over your head," Cavalier said. "It's a tide moving like a river and that's what happened to these people."

Outgoing tides occur when the water flows seaward, moving swiftly out of the inlet.

Cavalier said the beach patrol and other rescuers, including local fire and rescue crews, the New Jersey State Police and U.S. Coast Guard, did everything humanly possible to help, but it was too late.

"People go in the water after we go off-duty and this is the tragic result," Cavalier said Wednesday morning after reviewing the loss of life with his 65-member patrol.

"We went over everything we did," he said, adding that about a dozen lifeguards were in the water Tuesday as the search went on.

The city's last after-hours drowning occurred in 2004.

"Emphasize this. People should not go in the water after hours," Cavalier said.

On Wednesday, swimmers hauled themselves and their boogie boards out of the water and most heeded the caution to stay out of the inlet, venturing only to the water's edge.

Christine Alpin, of Columbus, Burlington County, watched closely as she let her children play in the surf, making sure they stayed at the edge where the water and the beach met.

"We would never let them actually swim without the lifeguards," Alpin said as her brother-in-law, Michael Fenton, watched both her two children and his two children play.

Their extended family is spending the week in North Wildwood and they were among those who watched Tuesday evening as rescue workers tried to find the missing swimmers.

Watkins, who was born in Cape May County, was visiting family in Middle Township.

She is the daughter of Jesse Watkins, a Middle Township man who gained notoriety earlier this year when he was convicted of murder.

His conviction was devastating to Jamilah Watkins, according to her grandfather, the Rev. George H. Watkins Sr. of Whitesboro.

"She felt her father was taken away from all of his children," George Watkins said Wednesday night.

He described Jamilah Watkins as a good person.

"She's always been a devoted child," he said. "She loved her daddy. She loved all of us."

He said her death was a shock and a tragedy for the family, and he added that Jamilah Watkins was a good swimmer.

"But the Lord has taken us through," George Watkins said.

Hart was part of his wife's family, he said.

"They're trying to perhaps have a joint service," he said.

The third person in the water, who was unharmed, is Jamilah Watkins' niece.

3 comments:

• Family (1) posts 4:47 pm

  It is easy to pass judgement when it is not your loved one or family member effected. Even more ironic is how easy it is to pass judgment when one does not have all the facts. No one but those that were on that beach really know what happened. Jamilah was a mother, a sister, a cousin, an aunt, and friend to many. Many love her dearly. She loved her children and her family and would not do something that could harm herself and most certainly not her little cousin. Instead of judging and providing satire and rhetoric. Pray for the families of those who have lost love ones!

• trufmint1 (1) posts 8:44 am

  And before anyone suggests it: No, the Wildwoods don't need to have lifeguards posted after hours. There are 5 miles of beaches in Wildwood. The chances that these people would have gone to a protected beach are nil. If they want to swim late, they better be experienced swimmers and know the terrain they're swimming in.

• Michael_Delaney_disappears (24) posts 11:07 pm

  I'm sure everyone but the people who decided to swim are going to be blamed here. A lawsuit will surely follow, etc.

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