Long Island Sound Mishap Leaves One Dead, One Missing

A woman and her 8-year-old daughter survived a frightful overnight windblown trek across the Long Island Sound in a kayak from Connecticut, before being discovered, screaming for help, on a beach in Orient before dawn on Monday, the U.S. Coast Guard and Southold Town police said.

A man traveling in the kayak with the mother and daughter died, authorities said. Another man, who the Coast Guard said was aboard a nearby paddleboard and swam for help, remained missing Monday.

U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Joe Smith of Sector Long Island Sound said the four departed from Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison, Conn., at about 6 p.m.

The Coast Guard said the mother, identified by Southold police as Delfina Reynoso, 26, and her daughter, Damaris Reynoso, 8, and a man identified as Abdias Ventura, 30, were in the kayak, while the other man, identified by police as Ferdinand Lagos, 39, was on a stand-up paddleboard.

Police said Ventura and the Reynosos are from Hartford, while Lagos is from Manchester, Conn. Ventura has been identified as the deceased victim, while Lagos remains missing.

The Coast Guard said that after departing shore the two watercraft were “windblown” across the Sound.

All four individuals were wearing life-vest flotation devices, Smith, the Coast Guard spokesman, said.

Blowing from the north and northwest, sustained winds of 12 to 20 mph were recorded in New Haven, with gusts from 25 to 33 mph, said Tim Morrin, National Weather Service meteorologist based in Upton. Those windy conditions were “fairly consistent through the overnight hours,” he said.

Buoy readings from the Sound indicated sustained winds averaging around 20 to 25 mph, with gusts averaging around 30 mph, said John Cristantello, also a meteorologist in Upton.

Sea surface temperatures in the eastern part of the Sound were recorded at 58 degrees.

The Coast Guard said it was not immediately clear what happened after the two watercraft neared Orient.

Smith said it is believed that Lagos attempted to swim to shore to get help, but it was not clear if he ever made landfall — or was swept out into open water. It also was not immediately clear if the kayak overturned — or if Ventura also attempted to swim to shore — but Smith said it is believed Ventura died of exposure in the chilly late-spring waters of the Sound. Smith said the water temperature is below 60 degrees at present and that hypothermia can cause unconsciousness and death within just hours.

What is clear, according to police, is that an Orient resident “was awakened by the yelling for help” from the beachfront near their home at 3:43 a.m. — and arriving officers discovered Delfina Reynoso and her daughter on the beach, shivering.

Both were suffering from hypothermia, police said.

Police said searchers then found the body of Ventura about a quarter-mile west of Reynoso and her daughter.

The Coast Guard is continuing to search for Lagos, joined by Southold police and members of the fire departments in Orient, Southold, Cutchogue, Greenport and East Marion.

The incident was one of three Sunday involving paddleboarders and kayakers going missing in the region.

The Coast Guard said the search for an Atlantic Beach man who disappeared in the Atlantic while paddleboarding near his home Sunday afternoon remained ongoing Monday. Two men also went into the Sound while kayaking near Bridgeport, Conn., Sunday. One man was rescued, the other remains missing.

With Patricia Kitchen

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