Father dies after saving struggling 11-year-old son in ocean

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – Authorities say a Pennsylvania father died while rescuing his son who was struggling in rip currents while swimming in the ocean off Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Emergency responders went to the beach around 9:30 a.m. Monday on a report of a child drowning.

Before they arrived, 58-year-old Thanh Bui, of Reading, had entered the water to help his 11-year-old son, who eventually made it to shore.

But Bui began struggling, and a former police officer who happened to be at the beach entered the water and tried to pull him in using a boogie board.

Emergency responders soon brought the two men ashore, but Bui was unresponsive and was soon pronounced dead at a hospital. The former police officer wasn’t injured.

The child was treated at the hospital for undisclosed injuries.

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This story has been updated to correct the victim’s age to 58, instead of 59.