2 Teenagers Missing in Waters Off Beach in Queens in Suspected Drownings

Authorities on Saturday afternoon suspended their search for two teenagers who were reported missing in the waters off Jacob Riis Park in Queens, a shoreline notorious for rip currents that prove deadly year after year.

The authorities received reports of a possible drowning around 6:30 p.m. on Friday. The officers responding to the scene were told that two teenage boys, ages 16 and 17, had been seen struggling in the water before they disappeared from view, according to the New York Police Department.

Emergency responders with the police, the New York Fire Department and the U.S. Coast Guard, including rescue swimmers and divers, searched the churning waters, but found no one, according to the police. Crews searched more than 600 square miles between the shores of New Jersey and Long Island, the Coast Guard said in a statement.

Kaz Daughtry, the Police Department’s deputy commissioner of operations, told news crews at the beach that witnesses said the teenagers had been overtaken by a large wave that they tried to avoid by jumping, but it appeared to suck them under.

“There is a strong rip current at Rockaway that’s most likely what caused the incident,” said Michelle Krupa, an operations controller for the Coast Guard.

Divers suspended their search on Friday night because of “extremely, extremely rough” currents, Mr. Daughtry said. A Coast Guard boat continued the search overnight. Efforts by sea and air resumed for much of the day Saturday, but the Coast Guard said around 4 p.m. that it had decided to suspend the search.