The heartbroken mother of a 13-year-old A-student who drowned along with a friend in Jamaica Bay demanded to know on Sunday, June 12, why his school waited hours to tell her that he had cut class - well after her son died.
Samantha Singh, whose teenage son Daniel Persaud drowned with pal Ryan Wong shortly before midday on Friday, June 10, while swimming in Queens, told the New York Post she wondered whether her child's death could have been averted had she been told earlier by authorities that he skipped school to go for a swim in the bay.
Singh said her son was supposed to attend MS 137, and school officials did not call her to let her know that he was not in class until hours later. When talking about the incident, Singh was emotional, saying, "They need to inform the parents right away, especially a middle school. We don't receive a call until 7 p.m. So if we could have received a call earlier, I have a track on his phone."
Singh asks why the school did not inform her immediately
Singh said that when the school finally alerted her that her son was missing, they told her that he had been gone since a little before 10 a.m. Singh blamed her son's school, saying, "I have four kids. In this day and age, you have to know where they are all the time. I thought he was in school. Just a couple of hours, I didn't track him. At 10, 11 [a.m.], I need to know he's not in school."
Singh added that the school where her two oldest daughters went, Richmond Hill, would have called right away if any of her daughters left school. Singh also questioned the bus driver that took them to the beach, asking why he did not notice the little kids alone.
According to the New York Daily News, Persaud and Ryan, who was also 13 years old, were with a group of friends swimming in the bay near Cross Bay Boulevard and Beach 96th Street around 11:40 a.m. when the unfortunate tragedy unfolded.
Cops said that the two boys, both from Richmond Hill, were on a sandbar when it suddenly collapsed, trapping both teens under the turbulent waters.
Both teens rushed to Jamaica Hospital
NYPD aviation, harbor-patrol crews, and firefighters scoured the waters for the two boys and eventually found the teens unconscious. They were both rushed to Jamaica Hospital where they were later pronounced dead.
Ryan's mother, Gloria Wong, posed an emotional message on Facebook on Saturday, writing that her boy will forever live in her heart. Ryan's uncle was distraught as well, telling a media outlet in an interview that it was so sad that he would never get the chance to grow up. He added that it hurts a lot.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are an estimated 3,960 fatal unintentional drownings every year in the United States. That includes boating-related drowning, resulting in an average of 11 drowning deaths per day in the U.S.
