By JEFF LIPTON
'They should not be swimming in water that is not protected by lifeguards,' Lt. Bruce Meyer, a Long Beach Police Department spokesman, said on Monday. 'The sudden tragedies occurred this weekend in which they did not heed this advice. Throughout the years there have been a number of drownings, but I do not recall one where the lifeguard was on duty.'
A day after one swimmer was pronounced dead and another was reported missing, a third person drowned in the ocean off Long Beach on Saturday. All three were victims of treacherous rip currents that swept along the oceanfront, police said.
Meyer said that police will patrol beaches and issue summonses to anyone found in the water between 6 p.m. and 9 a.m., when lifeguards are not working.
On Saturday at 6:58 p.m., the Long Beach Police Department received a 911 call reporting a 'person in distress' in the ocean at Lindell Boulevard, according to Meyer. The victim, John Swiderski, 29, of Wantagh, apparently was surfing when he was knocked off his board into the water, officials said. Police responded, along with the city lifeguards' emergency response team, and spotted Swiderski about 150 yards from shore, Meyer said.
The lifeguards, Lt. Tim McDonald, Annie Littlefield, Kevin King and John Krauss, swam out and found Swiderski unconscious and with a weak pulse, police said. The rescuers tried to resuscitate him and brought him back to shore, where they were met by emergency medical technicians. The victim was rushed to Long Beach Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 7:27 p.m., police said.
The previous day, at about 6:30 p.m., police received a 911 call reporting 'two swimmers in distress' at Riverside Boulevard, authorities said. Cousins Fahad Zahidi, 23, of Levittown, and Osama Shafeeq, 19, of Valley Stream, had gotten caught in a riptide at 6:20 and were being pulled farther out into the water, officials said. As he tried to help his cousin, Zahidi was overpowered by the current and submerged, police said.
Long Beach lifeguard John Skudin reached Zahidi and swam him back to shore, where efforts to resusitate him began. '[I] got down there, entered the water, got sight of the victim and did what I could for him,' said Skudin, the beach supervisor. 'It was not lifeguarding as usual. The emergency response crew is responding to emergencies from phone calls versus sitting out on the chair preventing them from happening.'
Shafeeq could not be found. The city Fire Department rushed Zahidi to Long Beach Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 6:40 p.m., according to Meyer.
'It doesn't get any easier ' it's part of the job,' Skudin said. 'It's a terrible situation. The only thing that helps me is that we weren't on duty. We were going to try and help and we did everything we could. It helps me. We did everything for the person. If we had been on duty, it would have been different.
'In 35 years it's happened a few times,' he added. 'It's never happened on subsequent nights [that] we've had so much tragedy.'
Police and lifeguards searched for Shafeeq in the water in the vicinity of Riverside Boulevard, where he was last seen. Long Beach and Nassau County marine units were assisted by county police helicopters and the 87-foot Coast Guard cutter Ridley, which searched farther offshore.
The search was suspended on Saturday at 5 p.m., according to Coast Guard officials. 'Making the decision to suspend the search is one of the hardest decisions a sector commander will ever make,' said Capt. Daniel Ronan, commander of Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound. 'Despite an aggressive search by both Coast Guard and local agencies that entailed well over 100 hours of combined searching, we were unable to locate the missing swimmer.'
At 8:40 a.m. on Tuesday, a woman was out on her morning jog when she caught sight of a man's body washed ashore at Virginia Avenue. Police tentatively identified it as Shafeeq, based on the clothes he was wearing and the body's proximity to the spot where he disappeared.
Coast Guard officials urged swimmers to exercise extreme caution in the water. 'Riptides won't pull you under the water, but they can pull you hundreds of yards away from the shore,' said Coast Guard Lt. Stephanie Pitts. 'We urge boaters and swimmers to know how to recognize a rip current and avoid areas where they occur.'
John LaMorte of the Coast Guard said the water conditions over the weekend were extremely dangerous. 'There have been a couple of strong currents in the area,' he said. 'If caught in such a current, swimmers should swim parallel to the beach.'
LaMorte added, 'Swimmers should be aware and ask the lifeguard what is happening in the water. They should also pay attention to any signs warning them of any potential dangers.'
In addition to the zero-tolerance swimming-after-hours policy, Meyer said, police will also hang posters at the entrances to the beach that detail what swimmers should do when caught in a riptide.
Ariella Monti contributed to this story. Comments about it? JLipton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.
