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<\/a>.<\/p>\n As they were \u201cpanicking,\u201d they were \u201cscreaming for help,\u201d witness Thomas Castro told ABC 7<\/a>.<\/p>\n Another witness, Aiden Gabourel, said he was yelling back at them to \u201ccalm down.\u201d as they screamed, \u201c \u2018Help help help help.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n NYPD<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I could hear \u2018em talking, ‘Listen, just hold on, don’t make any movements or whatever,’ ” he said, adding, “Yeah, I just thought about hypothermia.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The victims\u2019 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.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cLuckily, it was warm and not a day like tomorrow where it\u2019s going to feel like negative 20 degrees,\u201d Castro said, according to the outlet.<\/p>\n “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.<\/p>\n Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer\u200b\u200b, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/p>\n PEOPLE reached out to the FDNY and NYPD for comment.<\/p>\n![\"FDNY](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1bd1a40702a735ab6b8a0750fbb4dc9c.jpeg\"\/)
FDNY and NYPD crew on Jamaica Bay in Queens, NY <\/p>\n