By Betsy Scheinbart
Three teenage girls from New Jersey were swept from shallow water by a powerful current and drowned Monday after wading into the surf at a Far Rockaway beach before lifeguards came on duty, police said.
Sisters Shageda, 13, and Jubeda Ahmed, 16, and their cousin Rahela Begun, 13, went into the water at Beach 19th Street and Seagirt Boulevard at about 9:20 a.m., 40 minutes before lifeguards were due on duty, police said.
The girls’ uncle, Mohammed Islam, was unloading the car when the young women entered the shallows of the ocean, according to published reports.
Begun was pulled from the water by a police officer and rushed to St. John’s Episcopal Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, police said.
The 13-year-old girl lived with her family, who are originally from Bangladesh, in Patterson, N.J., police said. The Ahmed sisters also are from Patterson.
Begun was swept east to Beach 14th street by the strong current that flows from the Atlantic Ocean through Reynolds Channel, the body of water between the Far Rockaway beaches and Nassau County’s Atlantic Beach.
At press time Tuesday evening, the search for Shageda and Jubeda Ahmed continued, but the chances that the girls were still alive was extremely low, said Mark Sennick, an assistant operator at the U.S. Coast Guard group at Morisches, L.I., which is responsible for search-and-rescue operations at the Rockaway and Long Island beaches.
On Tuesday morning, Sennick said the Coast Guard was using two boats and a helicopter to search for the girls, but officials were re-evaluating the effort since it was highly unlikely the teens had survived.
Sennick said the tide flowing through Reynolds Channel was about three knots, a strength equivalent to 90 knots of wind on a boat. It would be difficult for even a strong swimmer to maneuver through such waters, he said.
“Unfortunately, this type of thing happens all too often,” Sennick said of the drownings.
At Community Board 14, which covers the Far Rockaway beaches, District Manager Jonathan Gaska said he will push the city Parks Department to put up more signs forbidding swimming when life guards are not on duty, but he said he was not sure if it would make much difference.
“There is plenty of signage, but unfortunately, in my memory, 99 percent of the deaths have happened when there is no lifeguard,” Gaska said. “I don’t know if more signs will help.”
Gaska said the board “strongly encourages people to heed the signs” and that going into the water without a lifeguard is “a deadly mistake.”
“We are deeply saddened, but unfortunately it happens from time-to-time,” he said. He believed it was the first time in about a year anyone has drowned on the Rockaway beaches.
The 101st Precinct, which covers Far Rockaway, would not release any information on other drownings on the peninsula.
Bob Lawson, a spokesman for the city Parks Department, said there were not any plans to add more signs to the beaches.
“The signs are up and they are clear,” Lawson said. “They read: ‘Beaches open 10 to 6. Swimming at all other times is prohibited.’”
Due to a citywide lifeguard shortage, some of the Rockaways’ beaches are closed, usually more during the week than the weekend, said Elizabeth Sulik, president of the Rockaway Chamber of Commerce.
The shortage is less severe than it was in June and most beaches are open on the weekends, but swimmers are certainly discouraged from using the beaches that are closed, she said.
“The currents are very strong down there. They are the only surfing beaches in the city,” Sulik said, who called the site of the drownings “ordinarily a safe place.”
Sulik said the drownings were “a horrible tragedy” and she said that people must be mindful of the signs.
“We do everything we can to safeguard our visitors,” she said. “We want people to come to the Rockaways and have a good time.”
Reach reporter Betsy Scheinbart by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300 Ext. 138.
