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‘I prayed with the mother’
FOX 5 NY's Briella Tomassetti has the tragic details.
QUEENS - A 14-year-old boy drowned in the Rockaways section of Queens, the NYPD said.
According to police, the incident happened Sunday just before 6 p.m. near Beach 73rd St.
Lifeguards had closed the beach due to inclement weather.
Basia Lewandowski, a former lifeguard, told reporters that most guards went back to the clubhouse when she was suddenly alerted about someone struggling in the water.
"A woman came up to us and starts yelling and gesturing that someone’s in the water," Lewandowski explained.
Lewandowski and her friend, a lifeguard who was still on duty, jumped into action.
"She went into the water," Lewandowski recalled. "I’m her point person on the jetty. I’m looking at the shack and blowing case whistles and our submersion signal."
Other lifeguards ran down to the water, located the teenage boy and brought him to shore. They believe he was submerged for several minutes.
Many witnesses, including beachgoer Sharon Grant, held out hope he would be pulled out alive.
"We heard the whistles and everything, you know, the chaos and the confusion about this kid was in the water," Grant said. "Him and his two siblings. His mother was there. I prayed with the mother. My sister and I, we prayed with the mother."
The teen was rushed to St. John’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
The incident comes just weeks after a 13-year-old boy was pulled from the water at Brooklyn's Prospect Park Lake.
He reportedly couldn't swim and was rescued by a Good Samaritan.
Citizen app video captured the scene as first responders arrived.
The teen is still on life support, struggling to survive.