Divers with the NYPD were out searching Jamaica Bay on Monday morning for a 15-year-old swimmer who went missing the night before.
The boy was last seen waving his arms and struggling to stay above the water just after 5 p.m. Sunday off Rockaway Beach near Beach 88th Street and Beach Channel Drive, according to the NYPD and police sources.
Johnathan Pender, 29, dove in to try and the teen but was unsuccessful.
“I had him in my hands and I did compressions on his chest in the water,” Pender said.
When he started breathing again, Pender said he started fighting.
“He was panicking and he went back underwater,” Pender said. “My body was just so weak, I held on as long as I could.”
Several friends also tried to jump in and save the boy, but Pender said the teen almost drowned them as well.
A joint rescue effort by the NYPD, the FDNY and the US Coast Guard was called off Sunday night after an hours-long search came up empty, according to officials.
The searched resumed Monday morning for the boy, who has not been publicly named.