What to Know
- Rescuers are searching for a missing swimmer and paddle boarder in two separate incidents in area waters.
- The swimmer was one of two who went missing Sunday evening. The other swimmer was pulled from the water alive.
- The paddle boarder went missing off the coast of Long Island on Sunday evening. He was not wearing a life jacket, a lifeguard said.
A group of boaters on an evening trip got blown far off the Connecticut coast by strong winds, leading to the deaths of a kayaker and a paddleboarder, and injuring two other boaters.
The boaters left Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison at about 6 p.m. Sunday. A woman and her young daughter who were in the kayak were found Monday morning on a beach across Long Island Sound in New York. Her boyfriend's body was found nearby.
Soona after 1 p.m. Monday, the Coast Guard found the body of a 44-year-old Manchester, Connecticut, man who had been traveling with them on the paddleboard.
Coast Guard Lt. Matthew Richards said winds gusting at about 40 mph blew their kayak about 14 miles across the sound.
"They were just doing a day trip around Hammonasset," said Richards. "But they were overcome by the gale-force winds. At one point it capsized the kayak."
Authorities say they were found on a beach in Southold, New York, at about 4 a.m. Monday by people who heard their cries for help. The woman's 31-year-old boyfriend was found a short distance away and had succumbed to hypothermia, Richards said.
Local
The woman and child were being treated for hypothermia at Eastern Long Island Hospital.
Authorities had not released the victims' names Monday.
The search for the man on paddleboard who was later found dead involved a helicopter, several Coast Guard vessels along with boats from several local police departments.
Richards said it was one of two boating accidents Sunday on Long Island Sound.
One person swam to shore and another was missing after an inflatable raft overturned in Bridgeport Harbor earlier in the day, he said. That missing boater was not wearing a life jacket, he said.
And in a third incident on the south shore of Long Island, 41-year-old Gary Turkel disappeared while paddleboarding near Atlantic Beach Sunday afternoon. Coast Guards were called to search for the man after family members said he never returned. He was still missing Monday morning.
There was a small craft advisory posted for the area Sunday because of the wind conditions, he said.
"On sunny days it feels like it's a nice time to go out there," he said. "But conditions can change very fast and the water is still very cold. It's very dangerous."
