Three Cousins Drown In Frigid Waters

Two teenagers drowned and a third was missing after their fishing boat capsized

The body of a third young Brooklyn man was pulled from a frigid lake in the Catskills Monday.

The victim and his cousins were fishing in Smallwood, N.Y. Sunday when their boat flipped over.

Carlo Milito could not answer his heartbroken mother’s calls shortly after divers pulled the 20-year-old’s body from Mountain Lake.

Kris Scullion, a 32-year-old volunteer firefighter, located him.

“It’s definitely difficult,” he said. “You always hope it’s not your own, but it doesn’t make it any easier.”

All three victims were cousins from Brooklyn. Militio was fishing with 19-year-old Domenico Coluccio and 18-year-old Anthony DuPont. They all drowned.  However, their 20-year-old cousin, Gianfranco Generoso survived after being able to swim to shore after their boat capsized.

 Mountain Lake is 15 feet at its deepest point and 6 feet at its shallowest.

Sullivan County officials said all four knew how to swim, but the temperature of the water and the several layers of clothing they were wearing contributed to their deaths, along with the fact none where wearing life preservers.

“The temperature of the water, which was 48 or 49 degrees, gives an immediate shock to the system – to the lungs, muscles – you cramp and start to develop hypothermia very quickly. They were also wearing layered clothing which absorbs the water and that will weigh you down to the bottom,” Sheriff Mike Schiff said.

“They loved to go fishing and that’s what killed them,” Louis Cuscio, their cousin, said. “You can’t blame nobody. It’s a tragedy.”

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