NYC Councilman says Coney Island drowning could have been prevented

A suspected drowning in the waters off Coney Island Beach could have easily been prevented if the city had more lifeguards on duty, a Brooklyn City councilman member said Friday.

A day after a boy went missing in the water after struggling in the surf, City Councilman Ari Kagan said the city needs to do more to protect its most vulnerable residents.

“I blasted the parks department yesterday,” Kagan said. “Last year I had a public hearing about it, about conditions on the boardwalk, on the beach, and about lifeguards specifically and I was told they have a nationwide shortage of lifeguards.

“We need to do more. We need to do free swimming classes. We need to recruit people, not to wait for another tragedy to happen.

“It’s a horrible tragedy and in my opinion a preventable tragedy. If we have more resources, more lifeguards. I do not accept this as a given.”

Kagan said the teen who drowned lived in a Bronx shelter with his family and traveled across the city to beat the heat with friends and relatives in Brooklyn on Thursday.

NYPD boats scoured the water off Brooklyn’s coast for much of the day 24 hours after two brothers went under in rough waters off Coney Island Beach.

Quick acting swimmers rescued one of the struggling siblings, but the older brother remained missing as beachgoers flocked to the surf again on a day when temperatures soared above 90 degrees.

Three NYPD divers and an FDNY diver searched for the missing teen, whose younger brother was pulled to safety before authorities got there. The 15-year-old swimmer could not be found.

Divers were back in the water, and a helicopter circled above on Friday before the search was suspended.

“The search is over,” Kagan said. “Nobody’s searching. The family not just has friends, but also relatives in Coney Island. I was told that they’re right now in Coney Island with their relatives. They’re still coping with this unbelievable tragedy.”

Kagan spoke under the watchful eyes of swimmers, who said the waves were not as rough as they were the day before.

“Yesterday was definitely much rougher,” said Thomas Casale, 57, who was on the beach both days. “Today is much calmer. And sometimes the rip tide can take you out.”

On Thursday, Casale was swimming close to the parachute jump tower, but left before the boy vanished.

“I couldn’t believe the waves,” he said. " I was like, ‘Wow, they’re really rough today.’ For a younger kid, yes, very rough.”

Across the beach, where colorful blankets and towels covered the sand, and red flags marked spots that were considered off limits, swimmers and sunbathers alike asked the same question.

“Where are all the lifeguards?” said Alex Kraus, 39, who was sitting along the beach as the divers plunged into the water. ”Years ago, all the beach was full of lifeguards.”

Kraus said swimming is part of his exercise routine, but added that he is very careful when he wades into the water. He said a friend of his drowned when he was a boy, so the sight of divers and the helicopter above brought back bad memories.

“I’m a good swimmer myself,” he said. “I pay a lot of attention when I swim.”

A swimmer named Andy was wading in the water near the area where the boy went missing. He said Parks Department employees chased him out because there were no lifeguards on duty.

He said he chose that spot because the other areas were too crowded.

“They told me, ‘’Get out, get out of the water,’” he said. “‘You cannot swim without lifeguards on duty.’ Something like that.”

Parks Department Commissioner Sue Donoghue said the portion of the beach where the teenager was lost has been closed all year and was not staffed by lifeguards. The area had also been marked with red flags that said “no swimming,” according to the agency.

“All of New York City mourns when something like this happens, and we certainly do at the Parks Department and as the city,” Donoghue told NY1.

As part of a heat emergency plan, the city mandated all Olympic-sized outdoor public pools to stay open an extra hour — to 8 p.m. instead of 7 p.m. — Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

But the policy does not extend to the city’s beaches, a decision Donoghue said was not connected to the lifeguard shortage.

“We don’t typically keep the beaches open an hour later. Those beach lifeguards were concerned about everyone’s safety, including the safety of our beach lifeguards,” Donoghue said. “They are out in the hot sun. It’s a difficult job to do, and we worry about fatigue and heat exhaustion.”