September 7th, 2015 by WCBC Radio
A man who went into the ocean is missing and a little girl died after she went swimming in Ocean City over the holiday weekend. WBAL News reports Captain Butch Arbin of the Ocean City Patrol tells WBAL NewsRadio 1090 that both incidents were preventable. Both victims went swimming when lifeguards were not on duty. Arbin says the 8-year-old was apparently knocked down by a wave and pulled out by a rip current at the Inlet. "She was located off shore. The currents around the Inlet jetty because of the back Bay emptying out are pretty strong," says Arbin. The girl was taken to the hospital where she died. Arbin says lifeguards had been off-duty for about 90 minutes when the girl was swept away. He says had the same event happened while lifeguards were working, it would have been a simple rescue.
The man who disappeared on Sunday morning was last seen around 1 a.m. when he left an establishment on the Boardwalk and then went into the water. Coast Guard crews and other state and local agencies searched for him all day Sunday and then called off the search.
The Coast Guard identifies the man as 35-year-old James Lenhart.
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