What to Know
- A Pennsylvania father died while trying to save his 11-year-old son from drowning in the ocean off the beach in Atlantic City.
- Police said the father and son were swimming before lifeguards were on duty Monday morning.
- The boy managed to make it to the shoreline and survived. Loved ones identified the father as Thanh Bui.
Diana Prince was more than just a family friend to Thanh Bui. She is also a surrogate grandmother to his three children and a godmother to his middle child. So she didn't hesitate to share words of comfort to Bui's oldest son after a terrible tragedy.
"I said to him, 'You have nothing to feel guilty about,'" Prince told NBC10. "And I said, 'This is going to make you a stronger young boy and a stronger man.'"
Bui, of Reading, Pennsylvania, was with his family at the Atlantic City beach at New Jersey Avenue around 9:30 a.m. Monday. Bui's 11-year-old son was in the water when he got caught in the dangerous rip currents. Bui rushed in to save him as a call went out to police, firefighters, EMS and beach patrol.
As the first responders arrived, they spotted Bui's son who was able to make it to the shoreline. Bui was still in the water struggling however. Jim Glorioso Jr., a former police officer from Amsterdam, New York, spotted him, grabbed a boogie board and went out to try and save him.
"I gave him CPR as best as I could but the problem is that far out with the waves and the boogie board and the water motion, it was really tough," Glorioso said.
Atlantic City Beach Patrol Chief Steve Downey and firefighters also went into the water and helped pull Glorioso and Bui to the shore. The firefighters then performed CPR on Bui who was unresponsive. He was transported to the AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center where he was later pronounced dead.
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The incident occurred before lifeguards were on duty for the day.
“Please just follow the signs,” Chief Downey said. “Read the signs and make sure there are lifeguards in the stands before you let you or your children go in the water.”
Lifeguards along the Jersey Shore were already on alert Monday for a moderate risk of dangerous rip currents.
Bui's loved ones described him as a deeply religious man who loved his family, the beach and St. Paul's Catholic Church in Reading, which they attended several times a week.
"Thanh was a very giving man," Prince said. "He was there for everybody."
A service was held for Bui Tuesday night. His friends and family remembered him as a hero who gave his life to save his son.
"His father was a hero in life and in death," Prince said.
The tragedy occurred after the busiest weekend of the summer so far for Atlantic City lifeguards, who logged 57 rescues, 17 of which occurred after normal guarding hours. No one was hospitalized during those incidents.
