One man was killed and another injured when their boat hit rough waters and capsized at the mouth of Fire Island Inlet, Suffolk County police said Sunday.
Both the boat’s operator, 68-year-old Christopher Sicignano, and passenger David Johnson, 70, were thrown into the water and were not wearing life jackets when their boat flipped around 4:10 p.m. Saturday , Suffolk County Police said in a statement.
“The boat then sank,” police said.
A passing boater saw it all happen and summoned help via UHF radio, which brought Suffolk County Police Marine Bureau officers and the U.S. Coast Guard to the scene, police said.
Rescuers tried to revive Johnson as he was rushed ashore by the Coast Guard and taken to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip by the West Islip Fire Department Rescue Squad, Newsday reported. But he was pronounced dead at the hospital, police said.
A “good Samaritan” took Sicignano to the Robert Moses State Park Boat Basin onshore, police said, where the West Islip Fire Department Rescue Squad picked him up and brought him to Good Samaritan Hospital as well. He was treated for minor injuries and released, authorities told Newsday.
Both men were from Lindenhurst, on the south shore of Long Island about 35 miles east of Manhattan.
Detectives are investigating exactly what led to the tragedy, and Suffolk police asked anyone with information to contact the Homicide Squad.
