2 Kayakers Drown In Hamptons Tragedy: Police

HAMPTON BAYS, NY — Two kayakers were found dead after frantic family members reported that they'd never returned home Tuesday night, police said.

According to Southampton Town police, at 1:29 a.m. Wednesday, officials were notified about an incident involving two overdue kayakers in the area of the Shinnecock Bay, west of the Ponquogue Bridge, in Hampton Bays.

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Units from the Southampton Town Police Department, Southampton Town marine patrol, New York State Troopers, the Southampton Village Police Department, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the United States Coast Guard and the Hampton Bays Volunteer Ambulance Corps responded and began a large-scale search of the area, police said.

Through investigation by the Southampton Town Police Department's detective division, it was learned that the two men boarded a single double-occupant kayak and left from the old south Ponquogue pier, heading westbound into Shinnecock Bay, at around 8 p.m. Tuesday night, police said.

At 1:29 a.m., concerned family members notified to police to help locate the men, police said.

At about 4 a.m., one of the men's bodies was located washed ashore at the northwest corner of the Ponquogue Bridge, police said.

He was identified as Daniel Villa, 25, of Southampton, police said.

A short while later, the second man's body was located washed ashore along the bulkhead just north of the Amalfi Coastal Kitchen Restaurant, located on Lighthouse Road in Hampton Bays, police said.

He has been identified at Juan Carlos Penaranda, 43, of Quogue, police said.

Both were pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

An investigation is ongoing; the Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s Office responded to remove the men's bodies for further investigation, police said.