Woman killed by rip currents while visiting LBI for wedding

LONG BEACH ISLAND — A woman was fatally swept into the rough surf off LBI, while another had a close call off Harvey Cedars over the weekend.

Al Della Fave, spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, said Kristi Pisano of Port Chester, New York and her boyfriend were visiting LBI for the wedding of her boyfriend's sister on Saturday and went for a morning swim.

The pair were knocked over by a wave off the Spray Beach section at the 24th Street Beach on Saturday morning, Della Fave said. Pisani went under the water for several minutes before her boyfriend, whose identity was not disclosed by Della Fave, got her back onto the beach.

"She swallowed so much salt water and lost oxygen for a significant amount of time," Della Fave said.

He said the couple had only been together a short time, and the boyfriend didn't know Pisano couldn't swim.

Good Samaritans performed CPR on Pisani before police and EMT's arrived, according to Long Beach Township Police spokesman Lt. Chuck Schnell. She was taken to Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin. Della Fave said she was later transferred to Presbyterian Hospital in Philadelphia where she died at 1:22 a.m. Sunday morning.

According to her Facebook page, Pisani was from North Bergen.

The southern coast of New Jersey from LBI to Cape May were under a moderate risk of rip currents on Saturday.  Schnell said that lifeguards were not on duty on Saturday.

Della Fave told the Patch of Barnegat and Manahawkin that in a separate incident, a man saved his girlfriend on Saturday afternoon from heavy surf off Harvey Cedars.