Queens leaders call for new swim safety measures amid apparent drownings at Rockaway Beach
ROCKAWAY BEACH, Queens (WABC) -- Officials in Queens are calling for new swim safety measures after the apparent drownings of two teens in the waters off Rockaway Beach last month.
Two bodies discovered in the waters off the Rockaways over the weekend are feared to be missing teens presumed drowned off Jacob Riis Park.
The family of 16-year-old Elyjha Chandler told police that photos of one of the bodies appeared to be their missing boy. He and 17-year-old Christian Perkins went missing on June 21.
Leaders are proposing a series of immediate measures they want to implement to help keep swimmers safe.
That includes extending the hours that lifeguards are on duty, increasing the length of the beach season beyond early September, and building new community pools.
They are also calling for existing pools in school buildings to be open for community use which could lessen the need to swim in the more dangerous ocean waters.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards called for the lifeguard union and the parks department to iron out their differences.
"Under no circumstances should we be struggling to hire lifeguards, enough of the back and forth," Richards said.
On Tuesday, Mayor Eric Adams floated the idea of migrants filling the holes during the national shortage.
"Let's open the doors, let's open our pools, let's allow our new arrivals who can pass a test, let's give them the right to participate as lifeguards," Adams said.
Richards said if a child does not know how to swim, they shouldn't be learning or taking their chances at Rockaway Beach on their own.
Around a dozen people have died swimming off the peninsula's beaches in the last five years, including seven people in 2019.
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