A search and rescue for a missing male swimmer remains ongoing after police pulled two teenage girls from the waters off Coney Island Beach in critical condition Friday evening, police and firefighters said.
The 24-year-old man dove into the water after seeing the two teens, ages 18 and 17, struggling in the water near Stillwell Ave. shortly after 8 p.m., cops said.
The rescue effort was sparked after bystanders flagged down police patrolling the Riegelmann Boardwalk, leading FDNY divers and NYPD harbor, aviation, and emergency service units to scour the coast in search of the missing trio, said police.
The girls were recovered at 9:35 p.m. — nearly an hour-and-a-half after they were first reported missing — and paramedics rushed the pair to Coney Island Hospital in critical condition.
The search for the male swimmer remains ongoing.
Swimming is prohibited on Coney Island Beach after 6 p.m. when lifeguards go off duty.
The disappearances come after Elyjha Chandler, 16, and Christian Perkins, 17, vanished in the water off Jacob Riis Park on June 21.
Search parties scoured the waters off the coast of The People’s Beach for more than a week, covering more than 600 square miles as the victims’ families held out hope they would be recovered alive.
But their hopes turned to ash after the body of a teenage boy was recovered near Beach 114th St. and the Ocean Promenade on June 29.
A second body was found about two miles away from Jacob Riis Park the following day, and by July 3 the city’s medical examiner had officially identified both bodies as the missing boys.
Christian and Elyjha were childhood friends and both attended Abraham Lincoln High School in Coney Island.
Christian’s family believes the boys were at football practice before heading to the beach to cool off as the city sweltered under a heat wave.
The city has suffered a chronic shortage of lifeguard since the outbreak of Covid in 2020 and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards called on the city to train and hire more life guards in the wake of the boy’s death.
15-year-old Markel Artis died last year after he was swept out to sea while swimming off Coney Island Beach. It took lifeguards at least four minutes to respond after he was noticed missing, his grieving mother told the Daily News last year.