Lifeguard, swimmer impaled in two freak accidents on N.J. beaches

As if the intense heat hasn't been enough for beachgoers to deal with, two unlikely impalement incidents at different Jersey Shore beaches in the last week sent two people to the hospital.

An lifeguard was impaled by a windswept umbrella the morning of June 25 in Asbury Park, a beachfront city of about 15,000 residents on New Jersey's central coast. A man swimming at Barnegat Light, a borough of Long Beach Island about a 60-mile drive south from Asbury Park, suffered a puncture injury to the leg that was likely caused by a fish impalement on June 21, authorities said.

Asbury Park Fire Chief Kevin Keddy said the lifeguard remained alert and conscious during the incident and first responders cut the umbrella on both sides of her arm to make it more manageable to transport her to a hospital. The lifeguard was setting up the umbrella when the wind took hold of it, fellow lifeguard Joe Bongiovanni told ABC7. She grabbed for the umbrella and, off-balance, tumbled from her lifeguard chair while the pole pierced her arm, he said.

The pole went through her armpit and came out her back, Asbury Park Fire Department Battalion Chief Christopher Barkalow told the outlet.

"She actually was way better than most people would be," Barkalow told ABC7.

Airborne umbrellas are a known beach hazard, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which warned that inadequately secured umbrellas have caused lacerations, impalements and even deaths.

At Barnegat Light over the weekend, the adult male swimmer was taken to the hospital for a leg injury he received while in the water, according to the Long Beach Township Police Department.

"Beach Patrol personnel transported the individual to the area of 19th Street, where they met with responding Long Beach Township Police officers and members of Barnegat Light First Aid. The male was subsequently transported to Southern Ocean Medical Center for evaluation and treatment of his injuries," Lt. Patrick Mazzella said.

Barnegat Light Beach Patrol Sgt. Hugh Shields described the injury as a puncture hole wound in the calf. Shields said it appeared as if the victim's calf was stabbed by a needlefish or a houndfish, two related species common to New Jersey waters during the summer.

Both needlefish and houndfish can be found in shallow marine habitats, have slender elongated bodies, a narrow beak and rows of sharp teeth. The species are known for quick bursts of speed and leaping out of the water. The largest species in the needlefish family can grow to about 4 feet. They are found in oceans all around the world and are commonly near the coastline where surfers or swimmers would be, Jeanine Sepulveda, a marine biologist at MiraCosta College, previously told USA TODAY.

Injuries by these fish are rare but not unheard-of. There have been documented cases of serious injury and fatalities after humans were struck.

They can be triggered to leap out of the water toward lights at night. They also may jump when they sense predators or when there is a disturbance on the surface of the water, Brazilian researchers have found. A 20-year-old surfer sought medical attention near São Paulo and was found to have part of a needlefish's jaw embedded behind his ear.

In October, a surfer was killed after being impaled by either a needlefish or a swordfish – another species of fish that can leap out of the water and cause puncture wounds – off Indonesia's West Sumatra coast. In 2010, in the Florida Keys, a kayaker's lung was punctured by a houndfish that jumped out of the water; she survived. In 1999, a fishermen in Malaysia was killed after being speared by a houndfish.