Crews search for 8-year-old boy who went missing after swimming in Long Beach
LONG BEACH, Nassau County (WABC) -- Search efforts will resume Wednesday morning for an 8-year-old boy who went missing after going swimming with his brother in the ocean off Nassau County.
The boy had been swimming late Tuesday afternoon just off Riverside Boulevard in Long Beach.
Police received several 911 calls for swimmers in distress.
The boy's 11-year-old brother was able to swim out to shore after becoming separated from his sibling. He was taken to South Nassau Communities Hospital for observation.
In the frantic moments after the boy told police his little brother was drowning, rescue workers formed a human chain on Long Beach.
"He was screaming so bad, he couldn't even talk, he was stuttering and everything. We felt so bad, we were trying to tell him 'calm down, calm down, where's your little brother?' I didn't know what to do," said Malaysia Maddox.
She and her friends were on the beach when the boy came running from the water. He was terrified.
"He was like, 'my little brother's drowning,'" Malaysia said. "He left us and went to some other people and no one was listening to him."
The girls called 911 and lifeguards went into the water with surfboards and jet skis to look for the 8-year-old, with Nassau County Police also on the scene on a jetty.
Helicopters searched from above, while rescue boats worked from the water and emergency service workers searched the cracks and crevices of the jetty.
The brothers, who are from Hempstead, were at the beach without their parents
The beach was shut down for the search, which has now become a recovery effort.
Officials say there were no lifeguards on duty at the time.
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