A celebration of the beginning of the summer vacation ended tragically for a 14-year-old Guyanese boy, who drowned on Tuesday afternoon after he and others ignored warnings and ventured into the ocean at a New York City beach.
Former St. Pius Primary School student Akeem Craig, of 1230 147th Street, Jamaica, Queens, New York was pronounced dead at the St. John’s Episcopal Hospital. He was rushed there shortly after he was pulled from the water by rescue divers from the city’s police and fire departments.
Craig left Guyana in 2008 for the United States and he was a student of August Martin High School, also in Jamaica, Queens.
His mother, Raquel Williams, last evening told Stabroek News, via the telephone, that it was one of her son’s friends who went to her home to tell her that Akeem was missing.
At the scene, she was told by another friend that Craig and eight other boys had left school after lunch and went to the Far Rockaway beach and began “playing in the shallow side of the water” as he could not swim. She said that they were warned by an unknown man that the area was a non-swimming one and that there were no lifeguards on duty at the time, but they ignored the warning and they began wading in the water.
The young boy apparently reached an area too deep and he began gasping for help. At this point, his friends, except for one who tried to save him, ran away screaming. The lone boy who tried to help had to give up as the water was too rough for him and later went in search of help. Craig was found some 40 minutes after in an unconscious state. Efforts to resuscitate him were futile.
Williams said she is still in shock at the news of the death of the second of her three children. He was her only son. She informed that she had last seen him on Tuesday morning before he left for school and he was excited that it was the last day before going on summer break. “He was so excited about yesterday (Tuesday). He was such a sweet child… hardworking, mannerly and excelled at school. I keep thinking this is a nightmare but no one would wake me,” she said.
An autopsy was performed on the boy’s body yesterday but his mother said she was too distraught to collect the report
