Crews searching for missing swimmer in Ocean City, New Jersey, Coast Guard says

Crews are searching for a swimmer who went missing in Ocean City, New Jersey, Monday night, the Coast Guard said. 

The Coast Guard said it received a report from Ocean City Beach Rescue around 5 p.m. of a missing 20-year-old man last seen on a boogie board near 10th Street and the Boardwalk.

The 20-year-old and another person were in the water on boogie boards roughly 200 feet from the shore, according to the Coast Guard. 

One of the people was rescued by Ocean City Beach Rescue, while another remains missing, the Coast Guard said. 

The person rescued told crews that the missing male was last seen losing his boogie board before being hit by a wave and failing to resurface, the Coast Guard said.

Ocean City Beach Rescue is leading the search, while the Coast Guard is assisting. 

Local lifeguard, EMT and water safety expert Bruckner Chase warns about the changes along the Jersey Shore due to beach erosion.

Chase said he has close ties to Upper Township in Cape May County. The township lost its beach patrol headquarters because of the "most dramatic erosion I've ever seen," he said.

He said beach erosion has caused steep drop-offs that make getting to a beach in certain locations dangerous and also exposed rocks and jetties that were previously covered.

"Depending on the tide cycle, those areas may be hidden underwater or more exposed," Chase said. "But if you're going out into the water at high tide, there may be submerged dangers that if you are boogie boarding or you're on a wave, you can get driven into the sand or driven into a hard object that could traumatically impact you, cause traumatic, life-changing injuries even without it becoming a fatal drowning."

Experts also stress the importance of going in the water when lifeguards are on duty.

In Ocean City, beaches won't be guarded for the season until this weekend.