The Coast Guard has suspended its search for a missing 24-year-old swimmer who went missing in the ocean while trying to rescue family members at the Jersey Shore.

According to officials, Jabed Ikbal, from Clementon, went missing Sunday evening while swimming at the Great Egg Harbor Inlet, south of the Longport Ocean City Bridge. Two family members started to struggle and Ikbal went to help them, but then disappeared.

"It's very, very tough to swim against it,” says Mark Jameson, chief of the Ocean City Beach Patrol. “You could be a very experienced swimmer, a very experienced ocean swimmer and you would not be able to beat the pull of a tidal current in an inlet."

Jameson says that swimming at the inlet is prohibited. Signs are posted at the entrances. He says that anyone who wants to swim should only do so at beaches with lifeguards during designated hours.

The Coast Guard, as well as local authorities, searched by water and air Sunday, and then again Monday.

In all, rescuers searched more than 82 square miles for over 21 hours.

The ocean off the New Jersey coast was rough this weekend because of the remnants from Tropical Storm Fay. There were rip current warnings.