Two teenage sisters were declared dead after being dragged from the water at Coney Island Beach in Brooklyn, New York.
On Friday, July 5, around 8:10 p.m. local time, officers responded to a complaint about a “water rescue” near Stillwell Avenue and Boardwalk West, according to the New York Police Department.
When cops arrived, they noticed two teenage girls had “entered the water and disappeared from view” at the beach. “The NYPD’s Aviation, Harbor, and Scuba units responded to the scene and conducted a search for the individuals,” the New York Police Department reported. “Divers removed both females from the water.”
The teenagers, named as 18-year-old Aisha Mohammed and 17-year-old Zainab Mohammed from the Bronx, were taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead.
The NYPD confirmed that the inquiry is ongoing.
Aisha and Zainab were reported to be sisters by several media sites, including CBS News and WABC. Witness Danny Quinones told CBS that the girls’ deaths were a “tragic event.”
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“I saw a lot of cops and firemen running towards the situation, and then the next thing you know, the family of the victims they go to the same area but were told to go to the boardwalk,” according to him.
The kids’ father, Mohammed Faye, told The New York Times that relatives called him at 8:30 p.m. to inform him that his daughters were missing and that his “whole family rushed to the beach.” He stated that by the time he arrived at the hospital, Zainab had been pronounced dead, and medical personnel were attempting to revive Aisha.
Faye reported that his daughters left their grandmother’s house for the beach, despite their inability to swim. He also revealed to the magazine that he used to drive Zainab and Aisha to Coney Island when they were kids.
“I wish they would have asked me,” he told me. “I would have asked God to take me and leave them.”
According to WABC, the teens entered the ocean while other beachgoers sought shelter from the downpour. A witness informed the outlet that a man tried to stop them but failed. Others reportedly refused to enter the water because of the tough circumstances.
“A guy, he saw the two little girls asking for help so he tried to help but he also went into the water but he can’t swim either,” a witness told me.
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The teens were retrieved from the water at 9:30 p.m. and pronounced dead at 10 p.m., according to CBS News.
Their fatalities occurred less than 24 hours after two teenage guys were retrieved from the ocean on the same beach after lifeguards had finished their shifts, according to the site. One of the boys was allegedly sent to Coney Island Hospital in stable condition.