Two teenagers did not survive the night after they were pulled from the water at New York City’s Coney Island Beach and rushed to the hospital in critical condition, according to police.
It was just after 8 p.m. Friday when calls came in about three people in the water off Coney Island in Brooklyn who needed rescuing, FDNY officials said. After searching for more than an hour, the two teens — an 18-year-old and a 17-year-old, both females — were pulled from the water.
Both teens were rushed to Coney Island Hospital in critical condition.
Law enforcement sources confirmed overnight that the teens, sisters, had died at the hospital. Their identities were not released.
Divers had been searching for a man believed to be in his 20s who was still reported missing in the water. Police later said they did not have a third missing swimmer.
Friday’s incident follows the drowning of two teenage boys last month at Jacob Riis Park, another popular beach in New York City.
A recent spate of drownings from rip currents at beaches have raised concerns about the deadly phenomenon. In Florida, a Pennsylvania couple who were on vacation with their six children drowned after they got caught in a rip current swimming at Stuart Beach. Three men from Alabama drowned last month after they got caught in a rip current at Florida’s Panama City Beach.
Experts advise anyone caught in a rip current to stay calm, signal for help and swim parallel to the shore, instead of toward it, until you’re out of the current.