Lifeguard Takes Rescue of 2 in Stride

The white T-shirt caught lifeguard Arn Van Dyke’s eye as he made his last round of the day along the jetties that jut seaward here.

“I could see the guy on the rocks and he was getting nailed by the waves,” said Van Dyke, 34, an 11-year veteran. By the time Van Dyke reached the man, what he thought was going to be a single rescue became something else.

In all, five people had been swept along the 56th Street jetty by a riptide during what officials described as relatively calm conditions. Three of the swimmers were able to pull themselves to safety on the jetty. But two teenage women were minutes from drowning, forcing Van Dyke to clutch both against his lifesaving buoy and swim them to shore.

“They’re very lucky,” he said Thursday, adding that it was pure chance that he hadn’t finished his rounds 10 minutes sooner.

In Wednesday’s rescue, which occurred about 7 p.m., conditions rated a green flag, which means swimmers need not take special precautions, said John Blauer, spokesman for the Newport Beach Fire and Marine Department. However, no flag was posted because lifeguards were off duty, he said.

“It looks like people are coming down and not swimming near lifeguard towers, or are going in when they don’t know how to swim,” Blauer said. “People are not paying attention to what common sense is and what they really should be doing.”

Van Dyke said one woman, later identified as Lee Nguyen, 19, of Rialto, was unconscious and slipping below the waves, while the other woman, Julien Tran, 18, of Highland, was semiconscious. Both were about 10 yards from the jetty.

Van Dyke said Tran was able to cling to his lifesaving buoy as he lifted Nguyen from the water and onto the buoy. Then Van Dyke swam with the current around the end of the jetty and back to shore on the side sheltered from the waves, where other lifeguards were beginning to arrive.

By the time they reached shore, he said, Tran had recovered and Nguyen was coming around.

The two women were treated and released from Hoag Hospital. Two of the men were treated and released from Huntington Beach Hospital. They were identified as Peter Lam, 20, of Colton and Vo Bich, 19, whose hometown was unknown, Blauer said. The third man was not injured and was not identified, he said.

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Times correspondent Thuy-Doan Le contributed to this story.