A Connecticut sailor's body was found on a shoreline in his home state, after his boat turned up at a Riverhead, Long Island dock with "sails unfurled, booms secured, and marine radio on," according to the Post. Frank Closter, 65, was "an avid boater" according to a friend, and his cause of death was unknown. The water where his body was found had a relatively frigid temperature of 60 degrees, and Closter was not wearing a life vest. more ›

The tragic drowning murder-suicide of a woman and her three children in the Hudson River grows as it turns out her 10-year-old son managed to open a window and climb out of the sinking minivan. But Lashanda Armstrong, 25, allegedly told little Lashaun and his young siblings, ages 11 months to 5 years old, "If I'm going to die, you're going to die with me." Lashaun Armstrong also told the authorities that she grabbed his pants leg, told him, "I made a mistake," and let him go. more ›

Last night, a woman drove her minivan with her four children—ages 11 months to 10 years old—to the Hudson River in Newburgh, NY. She let the 10-year-old boy out, but then she continued driving into the river, drowning herself and a 5-year-old boy, a 2-year-old boy, and an 11-month-old girl. Apparently the women fled her husband after a domestic dispute. more ›

A Queens babysitter has been charged with reckless assault after a 2009 incident in which she allegedly chugged NyQuil instead of DayQuil at work, knocking her out while she was supposed to be watching an 11-month-old child. As Krystal Khan lay sleeping, infant James Farrior fell head first into a bucket of water (which the Daily News calls a "death bucket") and drowned. Khan's lawyer insists it was a "tragic, tragic accident," but Assistant Queens District Attorney Leigh Bishop says Khan was "calm and without emotion" when cops showed up. Most likely because she was still zonked on NyQuil? more ›

The owner of a poodle who drowned after chasing a bird onto Prospect Park’s iced over lake, is asking city officials what would have happened if her poodle had been a human child. On January 2nd, Viviane Arzoumanian’s 5-year-old poodle drowned after running on to the ice, off leash (which is not allowed at the park unless it's during the designated off-leash hours, and never allowed at the lake). Following the tragedy, Arzoumanian—admitting she was breaking park rules—has some ideas for the park that she believes could result in more effective animal rescues. more ›

The death of fashion designer Sylvie Cachay has officially been classified as a homicide by the medical examiner's office. Cachay's body was found in a bathtub in a hotel room at the Soho House earlier this month. The ME's office says that the 33-year-old was held underwater and strangled. more ›

The Nassau County DA's office announced it will not press charges against the NYC school teacher whose student drowned while on a class trip at Long Beach. Sixth grader Nicole Suriel, who could not swim, was in the water, even though there were signs clearly stating there were no lifeguards on duty, and drowned to death. Nassau County DA Kathleen Rice said, "The decision to visit the beach and allow the students to enter the ocean may not have been wise, but the evidence does not establish that it was a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable person would have observed." more ›

On Sunday, a 45-year-old woman drowned off Amagansett. The East Hampton Press reports there were "several distressed swimmers at an unprotected beach in Amagansett, between Atlantic Avenue and Napeague Lane, and upon arrival found a civilian assisting several swimmers out of the 'heavy surf and dangerous riptides.'" Leslie Wanek Sgaglione was unconscious and, after administering CPR and other lifesaving measures, she was pronounced dead at Southampton Hospital. Another beachgoer said he saw Sgaglione in the water while she was apparently trying to save distressed swimmers, but then she struggled against a riptide. Her children were reportedly also on the beach. more ›

A man's body washed ashore on Huckleberry Island in the Long Island Sound on Saturday and his relatives identified it as Brooklyn resident Eoin Curran, 30. Curran had been taking a sailing class on the sound on Saturday, July 25 when a squall hit and he and the instructor were knocked into the water; he was not wearing a life jacket. A harbor master told Patch, "The rain was coming down so hard you could barely see a person standing next to you... A squall like that will lay the boat over on its side, to the point where you're taking water in the cockpit." Curran, originally from Ireland, was a programmer for Google. more ›

A 21-year-old college student from Brooklyn drowned in a friend's pool in Plainview, Long Island. Nelson Cole was found lifeless in the deep end of friend Jeffrey Soto's parents' backyard pool around 4:16 a.m. yesterday. His friends pulled him out and performed CPR, but he was pronounced dead almost an hour later at North Shore Plainview Hospital. His mother Debra Bramlett, who said her son knew how to swim, told the Daily News, "It's the call no parent ever wants to hear, that ring at 5 in the morning." more ›

Yesterday, a swimmer drowned off a beach on the bay side of Sandy Hook, NJ. According to WABC 7, "All three people were pulled out of the water at around 4:30 p.m. and taken to Monmouth Medical Center. One of the men was pronounced dead at the hospital. The conditions of the other two were not made available." Apparently they were swimming near Plum Island, and there were signs posted warning people that there were no lifeguards on duty. Sandy Hook is part of Gateway National Park. more ›

Even though signs clearly indicate that swimming isn't allowed in the Bronx River, the restored river remains tempting to nearby residents. In the wake of the drowning deaths of two teens in a part of the river near the Bronx Zoo, one man told the Daily News he'd wait a few weeks—out of respect for the victims—before swimming again, "It's like flying - it's two seconds of freedom." more ›

As temperatures hit over 90 degrees yesterday, two Bronx teenagers drowned in the Bronx River. In spite of a sign that says "No Swimming," it's believed that 17-year-old David Luccioni and 15-year-old Crystal Reyes climbed over a metal fence to swim in the river. A 13-year-old witness Santiago Shulterbrandt said, "We thought they were playing. But then we saw they were drowning. We dived in before the Fire Department got here. They were getting lost in the mud." more ›

A Department of Education investigation into the drowning of sixth grader Nicole Suriel during a class trip to Long Beach slammed Columbia Secondary School for poor planning that led to the tragedy. The beach had numerous signs noting there were no lifeguards on duty; there were three adults supervising the 24 students. The DOE fired first-year teacher Erin Bailey and disciplined assistant principal Andrew Stillman and Principal Jose Maldonado-Rivera. more ›

Last night, an hour after lifeguards went off duty, 14-year-old boy was swept out by a rip tide off Jacob Riis Park in Queens. WCBS 2 reports that while "the NYPD and the Coast Guard had choppers in the air Wednesday morning...the effort was downgraded from a rescue mission to a recovery search, as authorities fear that this will be the second drowning this month in unguarded waters." The first drowning is that of Nicole Suriel, the public school student who drowned off Long Beach. more ›

Now it turns out that another public school—PS 3 in Greenwich Village—had a field trip at Long Beach last Tuesday, the same day that Columbia Secondary School sixth grader Nicole Suriel drowned there. According to the Daily News, 50 students from PS 3—with 24 adults—"got in the water with Columbia Secondary School kids at Long Beach, where no lifeguards were on duty." Columbia Secondary's field trip had about two dozen students, supervised by three adults. Apparently the DOE doesn't require a lifeguard on duty for swimming at this time; a spokeswoman said before any changes are made to the regulations, the department is "awaiting an outcome of an investigation." more ›

After a woman fell into the Harlem River early Sunday morning, police are continuing their search. The search was suspended yesterday because of strong tides, and now it's feared the young woman has drowned. more ›

The drowning of a NYC sixth grade student during a class trip to Long Beach is now under criminal investigation. Nicole Suriel, 12, and other Columbia Secondary School students were in the water, even though there were signs clearly indicating no lifeguards were on duty. A high-ranking source told the Post, "We're looking to see if any of the adults involved in this have any criminal responsibility. There's a crime called endangering the welfare of children, and it's hard to see how this doesn't fit that description." more ›

The father of a 12-year-old girl who drowned during a class trip in Long Beach, Long Island, told the NY Times, "We had so much fun there, going to the beach [in the Dominican Republic]. She loved the beach, but she didn’t know how to swim." Juan Suriel said he tried to teach her, but emphatically told the Daily News that daughter Nicole "did not know how to swim" and that he and his wife never signed a permission slip. more ›

A three-year-old child and a woman taking care of her drowned in the backyard pool of a Lawrence home. According to Newsday, toddler Naama Markovits was pronounced dead at a Far Rockaway hospital while nanny Lorena Canales-Mejia, 32, of Inwood, had been on a ventilator at the hospital but died during the night. more ›

A sixth grader at Columbia Secondary School drowned while on a school field trip to Long Beach yesterday. Twelve-year-old Nicole Suriel disappeared while swimming and was found nearly an hour and a half after other students and adults realized she was missing. WPIX reports, "At some point got swept by a current, ending up in an area far from view"; Nicole was later pronounced dead at a hospital. more ›

You're warned: The following clip is pretty cute, what with 8-year-old Reese Ronceray revealing how he saved 5-year-old Andrew Gentile from drowning in a manmade lake in NJ, with an assist from SpongeBob Squarepants. Reese, who has known how to swim for two years, told MyFoxNY instinct took over, "I don't know how to explain it. I just kinda knew how to react... I swam over like they did with 'Larry the Lobster' and 'Sponge Bob.' I put him in one of my triangles, got him, we got back in the water and we swam to shore." Andrew helpfully added, "I was the drowner guy. Reece was 'Larry Lobster.'" more ›

Suffolk County police say that a Brooklyn man drowned off East Moriches, Long Island and another is missing. According to The Southampton Press, "Deng Zheng, 26, and his friend, Xiangyong Chen, 31, also of Brooklyn, were swimming approximately 50 yards from shore in an unsupervised area of Cupsogue Beach when a large wave apparently swamped them... The men started to swim to shore, but were not seen after the wave broke." Their two friends got the attention of lifeguards, who were on a workout run. The lifeguards found Zheng and performed CPR, but he was pronouced dead at a hospital. Chen was not found. The National Weather Service had warned about rip tide currents and for swimmers to avoid unsupervised beaches. more ›

A swimmer is missing and presumed dead off of Long Beach. WCBS 2 reports, "a 19-year-old Brooklyn man was wading about knee-deep in the water with three friends, but the strong current off the jetty soon sucked all four of them out to sea." Only the three friends could swim, and officials were unable to find Baruch College student Emanuel Tiburcio. Long Beach City Manager Charles Theofan said, "Unfortunately, not even the best swimmer could survive in water that rough and that cold." more ›

The Daily News has hunted down the mysterious Frenchman who helped a dad rescue his 2-year-old from drowning in the East River Saturday. On a visit from Lyon 29-year-old Julien Duret was strolling with his girlfriend at South Street Seaport when he saw something fall from the Peking ship museum. He looked into the murky waters and "thought it was a doll. Then I realized it wasn't a doll, it was a baby." He was the first to jump into the water and scoop up little Bridget, with her dad following shortly after. As the family took off for the hospital (Bridget is unharmed) Duret hopped in a cab, and left the country soon after. "I've never done anything like that before," he said of the experience. more ›

The dad who hopped into the East River Saturday to save his little girl Bridget says he feels "bad and really guilty and horrible" for letting her out of his sight, even though it was only for about ten seconds. David Anderson snapped a picture of his 2-year-old on the gangplank of a ship museum docked at South Street Seaport. After reviewing the shot, he deleted it, then looked up to find his daughter gone. A peek over the railing revealed she was floating in the water 20 feet below. "She was lying there motionless. I thought I might have just lost my little girl. There were 15 people walking up the ramp and I just broke through them like they weren't there," recalls the dad, an unemployed former ski patrol worker. more ›

The Palm Beach medical examiner's office says that Jeffry Picower, who allegedly took in $7 billion from friend Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme, died by a drowning that was caused by a massive heart attack. ABC News reports, "[Dr. Michael] Bell told ABC News that the toxicology results will take ten weeks and if there is anything found that could have contributed to Picower's death he will amend the death certificate." more ›

On Sunday, an Upper East Side father and daughter were swept up by a huge (some say 20-foot) wave along with other visitors to Acadia National Park in Maine. Clio Dahyun Axilrod, 7, drowned in the water and her body was found a few hours later by the U.S. Coast Guard. Her father Peter Axilrod and a girl from Maine were rescued while four others were able to swim back. Axilrod is in critical condition while his wife has a broken leg after being slammed to the ground by the wave. more ›

Despite increasing warnings from Parks officials and a drowning death toll that continues to rise, swimmers are still finding their way into the Rockaways after lifeguards are off-duty, often into the night. The Times goes out to the Queens beaches to discover that "police officers patrol the area until 9 p.m. or so...but daring swimmers know to wait until the police leave to dive in, stepping past signs in English and Spanish warning against nighttime swimming." And one local resident tells the News, "Kids think it's just a big bathtub." City Councilman James Sanders held a community "brainstorming" session this week to discuss how to put an end to a deadly summer that has already claimed six victims, three times as many as all of last year. A Parks deputy described just how dangerous the waters can be by saying, "In certain weather conditions, particularly with a lot of south wind, the waves can create an opening in the bar. When that happens, it's like turning over a 5-gallon water cooler bottle and ripping the lid open - all the water comes rushing out." Here's a tutorial on what to do if you're caught in a rip current. more ›

A deadly wave of drownings in the Rockaways has prompted the Parks Department to encourage heightened caution while swimming in what have been strong rip tides throughout the Queens shoreline this summer. Jose-Luis Olivares became the sixth swimmer to drown this summer while rescuing his wife and daughter; only two people died from drowning out there all of last year. Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe points out that all six swimmers died at an unguarded beach or when there were no lifeguards on duty. With the first real heat wave of summer arriving this week, Parks officials called on swimmers to only go in while lifeguards are around. Benepe told the Post, "We have over 300 lifeguards and supervisors in the Rockaways. We also have 50 security personnel who patrol the beaches both before and after hours to prevent people from going into the water. There aren't many other municipalities that do that. We've sometimes been called beach Nazis." more ›