Girl, 7, Dies After Rogue Wave Sweeps Her Out to Sea

Child, who lived on Upper East Side, was "unresponsive" when plucked from rough seas

Updated 3:32 PM EST, Mon, Aug 24, 2009

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A 7-year-old girl from Upper East Side was killed when a monster wave came out of nowhere and swept her into the rough seas off the coast of Maine as bystanders looked on helplessly.

Clio Axilrod spent three hours in 55-degree water before she was plucked from the rough waters after being spotted by a helicopter. Onlookers cheered as Coast Guard navigated through 14-foot waves and pulled the girl from the water -- they didn't realize she was already dead, according to the New York Daily News.

"She was one of the last we recovered. When we picked her up, she was unconscious and unresponsive," paramedic Jimmy Wilmerding told the News. "She was hypothermic."

Clio's father, Peter Axilrod, 55, and mother, Sandra Kuhach, 51, were both hospitalized in Bangor, Maine, according to the paper.

Axilrod, a Manhattan banker, was with his family and thousands of others who had gathered to watch the surf drummed up by Hurricane Bill batter the shoreline along Acadia National Park yesterday.

A rogue wave suddenly swept away into the churning ocean by a rouge swell, officials said.

"While we saved two lives, we are heartbroken that the life of a young girl was lost," Capt. James McPherson, Sector Commander of Sector Northern New England said.