A 19-year-old lifeguard was killed and seven other people, including three other lifeguards, were injured when lightning struck a Jersey Shore beach Monday afternoon.
The strike took place at 4.35pm at the 21st Avenue beach in South Seaside Park, the Berkeley Township Police Department reported.
The male lifeguard who was killed has been named as Keith Pinto, a student at Ocean County College. At the time of lightning strike he was seated in an elevated aluminum chair.
It is unknown at this time whether the lifeguard stand was grounded and otherwise in compliance with lightning safety guidelines.
Among the injured were three other lifeguards and four beachgoers, ranging in age from 15 to 51, who have not been named as of Tuesday morning.
Lifeguard Keith Pinto, 19, was struck by lightning and killed on a beach on Berkley Township, New Jersey on Monday. The lightning strike also injured seven other people
A lifeguard chair sits overturned on the sand at the beach in Berkeley Township, in New Jersey, where a young lifeguard was killed and seven others injured by a lightning strike Monday afternoon
Friends and fellow lifeguards cry at the foot of a lifeguard stand where Pinto was killed by a lightning strike on Monday
People who knew Pinto embrace on the beach where the 19-year-old tragically lost his life
They included a 50-year-old woman, a 51-year-old man and a 19-year-old man, police told NBC10.
Ocean County Sheriff Michael Mastronardy said the seven were taken to Community Medical Center in Toms River with injuries that were not considered life-threatening. They were treated for headaches, dizziness and hearing issues.
Vince Ruffolo told NBC10 that he was close to the aluminum life guard stand when he felt a jolt and was then thrown off his feet.
He said: 'Picture an explosion and an explosion happens all of a sudden, without giving you any warning. Next thing you know you're on the ground and then you have an odor like burning hair. So it was very, very dramatic for us.'
News 12 New Jersey reported that as the sudden summer storm rolled in, other Jersey Shore beaches had been evacuated, but not the beach in South Seaside Park.
New Jersey 101.5 Chief Meteorologist Dan Zarrow said Pinto was struck by lightning because he was sitting in an elevated chair.
'The electricity travels through him, through the chair into the ground,' Zarrow explained. 'That’s why a second lifeguard may have gotten struck. That’s why if anyone was nearby they also may have gotten zapped. It’s also really loud and really scary.'
It marked the second death of a young lifeguard at the Jersey Shore in a little over a week, after 16-year-old Norman Inferrera III died in a boating accident on August 20
Flowers sit at the edge of an overturned lifeguard stand on the sand where the lifeguard was killed
A friend places flowers at a memorial at the foot of a lifeguard stand in Berkeley Township,
Gov Phil Murphy, of New Jersey, tweeted a message paying his respects to the lifeguard
Monday's incident marks the ninth lightning death in the US this year, according to the National Lightning Safety Council.
The last was in Wisconsin on August, 24, the agency reported.
'Our hearts are with the family and friends of the young lifeguard killed by today´s horrific lightning strike on the beach in Berkeley Township, and we pray for a full recovery for those injured,' New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy wrote on Twitter.
'I´ve spoken to Mayor Carmen Amato and offered the full support and assistance of our administration during this difficult time.'
Amato said his township's beaches will be closed to swimming Tuesday through Thursday as crisis counselors are made available to beach staff and lifeguards.
'This is a tragic and heartbreaking day for our town and the entire Jersey Shore,' Amato said in a statement.
'This young person was out there every day protecting the lives of others. Our lifeguard teams, like so many along the shore, develop special connections with our community throughout the summer, which makes this loss even greater.
A note left with flowers was seen placed by the lifeguard stand
A handwritten note is displayed from two young girls who go to the beach where Pinto died
A sign advises beachgoers in Berkeley Township that no lifeguards are on duty on Tuesday
'On behalf of myself and our entire community, I offer our deepest and most heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of this young man,' he said.
DailyMail.com on Tuesday reached out to the mayor seeking comment on lifeguard safety and was awaiting a reply.
A handwritten note in purple ink was left with flowers Monday night at the base of a lifeguard stand at the beach.
'We were at the beach today and are grateful for what you've done for us by keeping us safe at the beach,' the note read. 'We are so sorry for your loss.'
Pete Tortorelli was tending an outdoor bar a block away from the beach Monday when, he said, lightning struck seemingly out of nowhere.
'It looked a little cloudy in one direction but clear as anything in the other direction, and it was the first lightning of the day,' he said.
'Literally two minutes after I saw the lightning, every cop car in this town was screaming down the street.'
Thomas Taberoni was at a beachfront house 100 yards away from the lifeguard stand, noticing that it was beginning to get cloudy, when he heard what he described as the loudest noise he had ever heard.
Empty beach chairs sat near where the lifeguard, along with seven others were struck. Beaches in the Berkeley Township will remain closed until Thursday due to the incident
Beachgoers at the beaches along the coast of Jersey's Berkeley Township. Police say the strike occurred at 4.35pm at the 21st Avenue beach
'Have you ever been to an air show when they break the sound barrier with that boom and you weren´t prepared for it?' he asked. 'This was like 100 times louder than that.'
Lynda McHugh had just left the beach when she saw two large bolts of lightning come straight down.
Within moments, people were running up the ramp from the beach and down the wooden stairs to safety.
DailyMail.com can now reveal that Pinto is survived by his twin brother, Kevin, who mourned his sibling on Facebook.
Keith Pinto is survived by his twin brother. He was a runner in high school
'Unfortunately many of you have probably heard but I just want to say how lost I am with words. I’ll love you forever twin bro,' Kevin Pinto wrote in a post early Tuesday. 'Please watch over our family for years to come.'
Friends who stopped by the beach to pay their respects on Monday said Keith Pinto was an athlete who ran track at Toms River High School North.
'He made everyone so happy. It doesn’t feel real. He was just an awesome person all around. It’s just … I’m speechless,' Abby Spurling told CBS New York.
Former schoolmate Giana Verlangieri said: 'It’s heartbreaking because someone from our graduating class is gone and he can’t experience life with the rest of us.'
A friend has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help Pinto's family with his funeral expenses.
A friend has launched a fundraiser to help Pinto's family with his funeral expenses
'It would be impossible to get it all into words how much our friend meant to us but we all know how amazing he was,' Chase Vander Vlient wrote in the description. 'Keith has left behind an overwhelming amount of amazing memories that will live in our hearts forever.'
The other New Jersey lifeguard to be killed in recent days was 16-year-old Norman Inferrera III, who died on August 20, a day after an accident in Cape May, on New Jersey's southern tip.
A lifeboat he was rowing was struck by a wave and flipped over, knocking him unconscious, authorities said.
