Divers are searching the waters of the Long Island Sound for a missing man after boaters discovered a 5-year-old boy drifting along the shores of Kings Park Bluff Friday.
Ted and Kathy Sandomenico of Kings Park spotted the boy, who was wearing a life preserver, around 2:45 p.m. floating at the entrance to the Nissequogue River. He was shivering and blowing a whistle that was tied around his neck. An empty kayak was found nearby.
"I said, 'Where is your father?'" Ted Sandomenico said.
"He said, 'He went down.'"
Ted and Kathy Sandomenico, who have been boaters for 42 years, were on their way to Milford, Conn. for a weekend trip.
Ambulance and fire departments from Nesconset, Kings Park and Northport soon rushed on the scene, and officials confirmed divers are searching the waters for a missing person.
A Suffolk County Police Helicopter is also circling the area and boats from the Mount Sinai, Setauket and Port Jefferson fire departments are in the water.
The boy's mother was called to the scene, and was reunited with her son around 6:45 p.m.
This is the second boating accident in the Sound within week. On Wednesday, a 71-year-old Patchogue woman drowned after a fishing boat she was on with her daughter and one other person capsized near the Old Field Point lighthouse.
Check back frequently for updates on this evolving story.
