Jun 14, 2009 2:23 am US/Eastern
Police Divers Search For Man Off Queens Coast
CBS 2's Scott Rapoport contributed to this report.
QUEENS (CBS) ―
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Police and Coast Guard divers continue to search for a man who disappeared in the waters off the Rockaway Peninsula in a mishap that also left a teenage girl in critical condition.
CBS
Police and Coast Guard divers continue to search for a man who disappeared in the waters off the Rockaway Peninsula in a mishap that also left a female swimmer in critical condition.
The hunt for 35-year-old Ramon Figero began at around 8:20 a.m. Saturday when dispatchers got an emergency call about two people in the water near Beach 9th Street and Seagirt Avenue in Queens.
The U.S. Coast Guard identified the female swimmer as 24-year-old Daria Miranda. She was pulled from the water by a Good Samaritan and taken to a nearby hospital.
"He is still missing in the water," Keith Kucera, chief of the Jones Beach Coast Guard Station, said. "Whether they got into an area where they found themselves unable to touch bottom, or not able to swim, we're not certain."
"There were people screaming and waving from shore," witness Sara Kowalski says.
Kowalski says she, too, was on a boat and saw Miranda's seemingly lifeless body floating in the water.
"Her body was moving with the tide," Kowalski said. "She was face down."
Fire chief Jim Harten told the New York Post the two were swimming in an area with a very bad current.
"It's very dangerous, very dangerous," Far Rockaway resident Edwin Santiago says.
Folks along the beach say the waters in the area are very tricky, and the current gets very strong. They also say that when the red flags are out, no one should be swimming.
"I would definitely agree with that," Kucera says.
A 21-year-old woman who reported the incident stated that all three involved were co-workers, and that Miranda and Figero were swimming offshore when the incident occurred.
The divers are searching in the East Rockaway Inlet.
Saturday night, Miranda is in critical condition at a local hospital.
Meanwhile, the man in the water has yet to be found.
There were no lifeguards on duty at the time. The coast guard says they don't report for work until 10 a.m.
The search was suspended at 9 p.m. Saturday night, and will resume at first light Sunday morning.
Stay with CBS 2 HD and WCBSTV.com for the latest on this developing story.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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