A 48-year-old Corona, Queens man drowned early Saturday off Southold Town Beach after removing his life jacket to swim back out for fishing gear from a boat that was taking on water. Luis Alciviades Encalada Ojeda had been fishing with two other men when their 10-foot aluminum skiff began sinking roughly 50 yards offshore, and while all three initially made it back to the beach safely in their life jackets, Ojeda went back out without his and never returned alive.
A Night of Fishing Turns Deadly Before Dawn
According to the Suffolk Times, Ojeda and his two companions had spent much of Friday night fishing from the beach before launching their small skiff around 4 a.m. The boat began taking on water about 50 yards from shore, and all three men were wearing life jackets when they abandoned it and swam safely back to the beach. It was only after reaching land that Ojeda decided to go back for his fishing equipment, shedding his life jacket in the process, per the same account.
Southold Police officers responded to a call shortly after 7 a.m. Saturday, according to Newsday. By the time one of Ojeda's companions swam out to reach him, he was already unconscious, the Suffolk Times reported. A nearby resident eventually called 911 around 7:10 a.m. after the group had trouble summoning help on their own.
Pronounced Dead at the Scene
Officers found Ojeda on the beach, and emergency medical responders pronounced him dead at the scene, Newsday reported. His two companions were not injured. The Suffolk County Medical Examiner's Office is assisting with the investigation, the outlet noted.
Southold Town Police Chief Steven Grattan said the skiff was too small for three adult men and urged boaters to check their vessels' capacity ratings, per the Suffolk Times. The beach where the men launched, Lt. George R. Sullivan Beach — commonly known as Town Beach — had been closed to bathing for the summer after severe erosion last winter left parts of the shoreline unsafe, the outlet reported.
A Familiar Pattern in Boating Deaths
The circumstances echo a national pattern documented by the U.S. Coast Guard, which verified 3,887 recreational boating incidents, 556 deaths and 2,170 injuries nationwide in 2024. Drowning accounted for 76% of fatal boating victims when the cause of death was known, and among victims whose personal flotation device use was known, 87% were not wearing one. Four of every five boaters who drowned were aboard vessels shorter than 21 feet, according to the same Coast Guard data, and swamping was the primary incident type in 262 recreational boating cases, tied to 57 deaths.
Closer to home, boating accidents across Nassau and Suffolk counties fell from 104 in 2019 to just 39 in 2024, before climbing back up to 69 in 2025, according to a Newsday analysis. There were no boating fatalities off Long Island waters in 2024, but three occurred in 2025, even as the overall number of accidents on Long Island waters fell 34% since 2019. Statewide, New York recorded 19 boating deaths and one disappearance in 2025, up from nine fatalities in state waters the year before, Newsday reported.
Other Close Calls on the Water
Ojeda's death is not the only recent scare involving a swamped small vessel on Long Island. In August, five people were rescued after their 17-foot boat began taking on water while fishing near Asharoken in Long Island Sound, according to News 12 Long Island. Suffolk Police Marine Bureau officers removed all five from the water, and none was injured, the station reported.
Suffolk County officials have separately flagged a troubling year for drownings overall, reporting 119 water-related calls, including 16 drownings, in 2025, according to Patch. Seven more people had died in drownings across the county so far in 2026, per the same report. New York has also been phasing in Brianna's Law, which requires operators of motorized watercraft to complete a state-approved boating safety course; motorboat operators born on or after Jan. 1, 1983 currently need a boating safety certificate, according to the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
