A teenager drowned in the waters off Coney Island, by a popular stretch of beach across the boardwalk from the iconic Cyclone roller coaster, police said on Friday.
A lifeguard spotted the 19-year-old victim floating in the ocean near W. 10th St. and Surf Ave. around 3:10 p.m. Wednesday and dove in to try to save him, police said. But when the lifeguard pulled the young man out of the water he was unresponsive.
Medics rushed the victim to South Brooklyn Health, where doctors pronounced him dead 20 minutes later, cops said.
The Daily News is not releasing the young man’s name until it can first confirm that his family has been notified.
The drowning comes just one week after the body of a 23-year-old man washed ashore on Rockaway Beach near Beach 25th St. The swimmer, a recent immigrant from Africa, disappeared on July 25 near Beach 20th St. around 6 p.m. as storm clouds were gathering.
Swimming is prohibited on New York City beaches during thunderstorms and every day after lifeguards go off duty at 6 p.m.
A week and a half before the 23-year-old swimmer’s body was found, on July 20 another man’s body was discovered floating in the water about 4 miles west of there, at Rockaway Beach near Beach 97th St.
Although his face was badly decomposed, he was eventually identified by the medical examiner as Jimmy Rambally, 37, a former lifeguard who, despite being a strong swimmer, disappeared while taking a prohibited late-night swim around 11:20 p.m. on July 12.
Rambally had told his mother he wanted to go lie on the beach and look at the stars. His brother told The News that, according to a friend who accompanied him to the beach, once Rambally got there, he couldn’t resist going into the nighttime waters.
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