Teen Swimmer Found Dead Off Rockaway Beach, Friend Rescued

ROCKAWAY BEACH, QUEENS — Police found the body of an 18-year-old swimmer in the Rockaways early Wednesday, hours after first responders rescued his friend from drowning.

Cops got a 911 call about 8 p.m. Tuesday reporting two swimmers in distress off the Rockaway Beach shore by Beach 61st Street.

First responders managed to pull one swimmer, a 14-year-old boy, out of the water, police said. EMS rushed the boy to St. John's Episcopal Hospital.

But the second swimmer, identified by the New York Daily News as John Munoz, was nowhere to be seen.

Police finally found Munoz about 3:30 a.m. near a jetty on the beach. EMS pronounced him dead.

"They were playing, having a nice time," Munoz's mother told the Daily News. "He doesn’t drink, he doesn’t smoke. He barely comes out of the house. I don’t know how he just slipped out of my hands."

The friends both lived in East New York in Brooklyn.

St. John's Hospital discharged the 14-year-old swimmer on Wednesday, according to the Daily News.