For about 3 hours, rescue teams had been searching the water for his body after he and another teenager fishing today lost their footing.
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For many on the beach, witnessing the teens desperately clinging to each other, crying out for help, was chilling on every level.
"It was crazy because I was witnessing someone dying and there was nothing I could do to help him," one fishermnan said.
Fellow fishermen are devastated. What began as a beautiful Sunday in the North Broad Channel, turned into a massive search and rescue.
At 2:30 this afternoon, the teens found themselves too far out in the Jamaica Bay water.
Some fishermen actually tried to catch and reel in the struggling teens.
The Coast Guard says rescuers pulled one of the men out. He was taken to a nearby hospital.
But they say the other fisherman was possibly pulled into the sinkhole, an underwater depression.
The rescued fisherman was identified as Jesus Gonzalez. He was listed in stable condition.
The name of the teen who died was not released.
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