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Three 22-year-old men were walking across the frozen Jamaica Bay in Far Rockaway, Queens, on Friday, Feb. 6
After they walked the length of a football field, they all fell through the ice and into cold water
They were all successfully rescued, transported to local hospitals and remain conscious and alert
Multiple people were rescued from the icy waters in Queens, New York, on Friday, Feb. 6.
Around 4:15 p.m., the Fire Department of New York was alerted of three people in the Jamaica Bay waters, near 13-10 Norton Dr. in Far Rockaway, PIX11 reports.
The three men, all 22, were walking across the frozen bay until they suddenly fell in. At the time of their fall, they had walked about the length of a football field on the ice. They were all submerged in ice water at approximately 36 degrees, according to Tideschart.
As they were “panicking,” they were “screaming for help,” witness Thomas Castro told ABC 7.
Another witness, Aiden Gabourel, said he was yelling back at them to “calm down.” as they screamed, “ ‘Help help help help.’ ”
FDNY first responders arrived first, and one of them fell into the water while trying to reach the victims. The FDNY crew member was able to pull himself out.
“The first guy that came out of the helicopter actually needed to rescue himself,” Castro said. “Because as soon as he went in the water his line that was supposed to attach himself with the guy he was rescuing, the line kinda detached itself.”
FDNY and NYPD crew on Jamaica Bay in Queens, NY
NYPD
The New York Police Department later arrived, and an NYPD scuba team member also fell into the water. The NYPD’s aviation unit rescued the men with a helicopter.
After nearly 40 minutes in the water, one of the victims had stopped moving before he was safely pulled out. “There was one in particular because I was zooming in with my phone and he looked like he was struggling more than the other ones,” Gabourel said.
“And I could hear ‘em talking, ‘Listen, just hold on, don’t make any movements or whatever,’ ” he said, adding, “Yeah, I just thought about hypothermia.”
Each man was successfully rescued. One was taken to St. John’s Episcopal Hospital in Far Rockaway, and the other two victims were transported to Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital in Oceanside. All three are alert and conscious.
The victims’ neighbors said that the three men had been walking on the icy bay all week, despite advisement to stop. “All the neighbors tell them to stop. They don’t listen. They don’t listen to nobody,” Castro said, according to the New York Daily News.
“Luckily, it was warm and not a day like tomorrow where it’s going to feel like negative 20 degrees,” Castro said, according to the outlet.
“Every day I drive by, I live around the corner, I see them doing it and I pull over and say look that’s not a good idea, you shouldn’t do that,” Gabourel said, per ABC 7.
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PEOPLE reached out to the FDNY and NYPD for comment.
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