NEW YORK (AP) -- Firefighters and a former lifeguard pulled two struggling swimmers from the ocean after the pair became stranded in strong currents off Rockaway Beach in Queens, authorities said.
The former lifeguard, 23-year-old Kristin Bledsoe, rushed into the ocean with a boogie board after hearing the swimmers call for help at about 4 p.m. on Thursday, published reports said.
``I couldn't sit there and do nothing,'' Bledsoe told the Daily News for Friday editions. ``I would've felt guilty if I didn't go in.''
She was joined by off-duty firefighter Brian Sullivan, 38, who also saw the two young men in distress and dove into the ocean to help. Bledsoe was able to find one of the swimmers after she brushed him under the water.
``I felt him under my feet and pulled him up and got his head out of the water,'' she told the New York Post. ``Thank God I felt him or I would never have found him.''
Firefighters from Ladder 137 arrived to bring the swimmers to safety, and they were taken to Peninsula General Hospital, according to Kevin Nolan, a fire department spokesman.
