{"id":237462,"date":"2026-05-19T23:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T23:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/237462\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T23:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T23:54:11","slug":"search-underway-rockaway-beach-18-year-old-swimmer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/237462\/","title":{"rendered":"Search underway Rockaway Beach 18-year-old swimmer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>An 18-year-old swimmer vanished in the rough waters off Rockaway Beach on Tuesday afternoon \u2014 sparking a massive air and sea search, officials said.<\/p>\n<p>One of the teen\u2019s friends called 911 after witnesses reported seeing the man enter the ocean, but failing to resurface. <\/p>\n<p>The FDNY said they were alerted to the missing swimmer near Beach 73rd Street and Shore Front Parkway around 3:30 p.m. <\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.33333333;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39429376\" width=\"787\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_8241.jpg\" alt=\"Four adults, including two uniformed officers, stand near a sandy beach with a wooden fence.\" class=\"wp-image-39429376\"  \/>Investigators search for the missing 18-year-old in Rockaway Beach. Peter Gerber<\/p>\n<p>The fire department deployed rescue swimmers, drones, and marine units, but weren\u2019t immediately able to locate the teen. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe just heard commotion, a bunch of helicopters,\u201d said Ashley Gutierrez, who was on the beach when the operation began.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt got super windy, it was like a sandstorm,\u201d she continued, referring to the helicopter\u2019s downwash.<\/p>\n<p>The NYPD\u2019s specialized scuba and aviation units later joined the search. <\/p>\n<p>Gutierrez described the operation as \u201cintense, pretty intense.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.33333333;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39429395\" width=\"787\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_8236.jpg\" alt=\"A blue Rockaway Beach sign with rules and prohibited activities, in English, Spanish, and Russian, with sand dunes and a fence in the background.\" class=\"wp-image-39429395\"  \/>An 18-year-old went went swimming in Rockaway Beach and did not submerge. Peter Gerber<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI saw a lot of kids bringing out their surfboards,\u201d Gutierrez told The Post.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn my head I was like the waves must be so intense today, I can\u2019t even imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kingdom Bankston, another beachgoer, said the general vibe at the beach was \u201cpretty calm\u201d despite the large rescue effort.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll I can think of is their loved ones and how stressful this must be,\u201d said Bankston, referring to the missing man\u2019s family.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSomeone out there is going through it right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A second person was treated for minor injuries at the scene but refused medical attention. <\/p>\n<p>Officials note that<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/05\/14\/us-news\/mayor-eric-adams-suggests-migrants-could-fill-nycs-lifeguard-shortage-because-theyre-excellent-swimmers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"> lifeguards are not yet on duty at city beaches<\/a>, with the official season not scheduled to start until Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An 18-year-old swimmer vanished in the rough waters off Rockaway Beach on Tuesday afternoon \u2014 sparking a massive&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237463,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[7631,7373,9,56,63,65,64,294,121,58],"class_list":["post-237462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-beaches","tag-missing-persons","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-rockaway-beach","tag-surfing","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}