WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH - A 19-year-old Oklahoma man vacationing with his family drowned Monday afternoon in the waters near Johnnie Mercer's Fishing Pier.

It was the first drowning reported at Wrightsville Beach this summer but the second death in the Atlantic Ocean off Southeastern North Carolina in two days.

On Saturday, a 40-year-old Wilmington man was killed at the north end of Carolina Beach after being thrown from his personal watercraft while wave jumping.

Monday's drowning sent throngs of beachgoers to their cars on an otherwise beautiful summer day. At least two people unrelated to the victim cried in the parking area near the pier as the emotion of what they experienced set in.

One witness called someone on a cell phone, told the person on the other end that she loved them, then started crying and said, "I just saw someone drown."

After a frantic, half-hour search by lifeguards and beachgoers, the body of Ben Ea was spotted floating under the pier. About a dozen bystanders sprang into action, swimming out to the victim, who was about 30 feet from shore.

They were quickly joined by about a dozen lifeguards, who had been diving south of the pier in the direction of the current, said Sterling Powell, an emergency medical technician with the Wrightsville Beach Fire Department.

"The bystanders actually made the recovery, then turned the victim over to Wrightsville Beach lifeguards who brought him to shore on a paddle board, where New Hanover Regional EMS crews assumed patient care," Mr. Powell said.

Mr. Ea was taken to Cape Fear Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Wendy Modisette, an emergency room nurse at New Hanover Regional Medical Center who was at the beach with her mother, said the victim was under the water for more than 30 minutes.

When rescuers pulled him out, "he was that dead gray color," she said.

Her mother, Elaine Modi-sette, said she was sitting on the beach in front of a group of people who were with the victim.

"They were sitting behind us having a wonderful time just before that," she said.

The call came in to authorities at 4:23 p.m., Mr. Powell said, and lifeguards immediately began diving near the pier. As more guards arrived, they began a pattern search to the south, following the current. A hospital helicopter made one pass overhead before the body was located, Mr. Powell said.

A yellow flag flew on a lifeguard stand near the pier, meaning the water could produce dangerous conditions and swimmers should exercise caution. But Mr. Powell said he didn't believe ocean conditions played a significant part in Mr. Ea's death. He said he didn't know exactly what caused Mr. Ea to go under.

For Brian Giles and his 10-year-old daughter, Debbie, it was their first trip to Wrightsville Beach since moving to the area last week. Mr. Giles said they had just arrived and saw all the commotion. For the newcomers, the drowning taught them first-hand the dangers of the ocean.

"She said, 'I'm not going to go past my knees,'»" Mr. Giles said of his daughter.

In Saturday's accident, John Hensley died after he came down hard from a wave and struck his chest into the craft's handlebars, knocking him unconscious.

Attempts by nearby swimmers to revive him were unsuccessful.

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