Long Beach Missing Swimmer: 8-Year-Old Boy Feared Dead

LONG BEACH, NY – An 8-year-old boy is feared dead after he reportedly became caught in a powerful rip current in the ocean off Long Beach Tuesday evening.

"All water rescue operations have been suspended for the night," the Long Beach Fire Department wrote on its Facebook page at 9:50 p.m.

The missing boy was was last seen last seen swimming with his 11-year-old brother near Ocean Beach Park off Edwards Boulevard around 6 p.m., the U.S. Coast Guard said in a news release.

The older boy tried to hold onto his brother when they got caught in a rip current, but they were pulled apart, Long Beach Fire Commissioner Scott Kemins said, according to an NBC 4 report.

Lifeguards were not on duty at the beach at the time. Long Beach lifeguards begin full-time summer staffing this weekend.

The brothers, from Hempstead, were at the beach without their parents, ABC 7 reported.

The National Weather Service had warned of a moderate risk of rip currents at ocean beaches into Tuesday evening.

The Coast Guard urges swimmers to always swim in areas where lifeguards are present. The ocean is powerful and can overtake even the best swimmers.