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Search for missing L.B. swimmer ends in tragedy

Man drowns after he's caught in a rip tide; incident happened when lifeguards were off-duty

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Two men who entered the water at National Boulevard beach on Saturday after lifeguards went off-duty triggered a massive search and rescue operation when one of the men went missing after he was caught in a strong rip tide, police said.

Beaches are closed to swimmers at 6 p.m. According to Long Beach Police Commissioner Michael Tangney, police received a call at 6:30 p.m. reporting that two swimmers were in distress at National. One man was rescued shortly after by an off-duty lifeguard. The swimmer told the lifeguard that his friend, a 23-year-old man from Brooklyn, was still in the water.

That led to an extensive search for the man that included Long Beach police, lifeguards and firefighters, along with the U.S. Coast Guard, and Nassau County Aviation and Marine bureaus.

Police said that the man was later found at 7:38 p.m. after he was submerged in the water for about an hour. According to Chief of Lifeguards Paul Gillespie, the victim was not breathing when responders pulled him from the water. Tangney added that paramedics performed “full, life-saving efforts” on the victim at the scene including CPR and administering oxygen.

He was transported to South Nassau Communities Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 8:13 p.m. The victim was later identified as Kashawn Carlos.

Police said that all swimmers were ordered out of the ocean when lifeguards went off-duty at 6 p.m. and that Carlos chose to go back in the water and was caught in a rip tide.

According to Tangney, lifeguards had completed a save at Edwards just before the call came in of the men in distress at National.

Rip currents and tides were strong on Saturday, and lifeguards could be observed throughout the day directing swimmers to stay only in waist-deep water — and ordered them closer to the beach if they were out too far. There were also multiple rescues throughout the day due to rip currents, according to the Long Beach Fire Department.

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