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2 People Killed In Jamaica Bay Boat Capsizing Identified

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Two people were killed after a boat capsized in Jamaica Bay Friday night.

As 1010 WINS' Mona Rivera reported, the water was calm Saturday morning but the night before the storm had churned up 8 foot waves, fierce winds and pouring rain.

In that storm, a boat carrying five men capsized. It happened just before 8 p.m. near Floyd Bennett Field.

Two of the people on board were able to swim back to shore and one called for help, police told 1010 WINS.

The NYPD Aviation Unit is stationed at Floyd Bennett Field, and a member of the unit saw what was happening and rescued a person stranded on the rocks.

The other two victims were pulled from the water by FDNY and NYPD harbor units. Those two men were rushed to Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center Brooklyn in very serious condition, and were later pronounced dead, police said.

They were identified as 42-year-old Ricardo Mejia and 50-year-old Joel Ortiz, both of Brooklyn.

At a nearby marina, boaters like Carmine are wondering what the men were thinking by taking the boat out in the storm.

"I go out in bad weather, but anything like this is...no way, you gotta stay home," he said.

The other three boaters were taken to Coney Island Hospital.

(TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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