NY fishermen die in upstate NY tragedy
God this is so sad. Wish they had worn life preservers. RIP, thoughts and prayers to the family.:(
The sole survivor of an upstate fishing trip that claimed the lives of two cousins and a best pal from Brooklyn frantically urged them to shed their bulky clothes to keep from drowning, to no avail.
Gianfranco Generoso, 20, survived by stripping off his own thick layers - and tried to get his flailing cousins, Anthony Dupont, 18, and Carlo Milito, 20, and friend Domenico Coluccio, 19, to do the same, friends said.
"[Generoso] kept saying to them to take their clothes off," said Donna Schirripa, whose daughter was Dupont's girlfriend.
Somehow, in those final frantic moments in the chilly waters, his calls went unheeded.
A good Samaritan who helped Generoso on shore said, "He was screaming, 'My friends! Do you see them? Are they following me?' "
Yesterday, a grief-stricken Generoso repeatedly asked relatives, "Why me?" as he struggled to comprehend the enormous loss that blindsided two close families in their tight-knit community.
The foursome's small boat capsized on Mountain Lake in upstate Smallwood when one of the men tripped over a tackle box on board, said a friend.
None of the young men were wearing life preservers, and rescue workers said heavy clothing bogged them down.
Even as Generoso neared land, he was focused on his lifelong friend and cousins.
"This kid was so panicky about his friends," said Robert Fuld, who lives in the tiny hamlet near Monticello.
Fuld heard the cries from the nearby lake, rushed over to the rocky embankment and spotted Generoso about 35 feet from land.
"He wasn't out very far, but he needed encouragement. He was panicking," said Fuld.
Fuld grabbed a painter's pole - "the longest I could find" - for Generoso to cling to.
"I can't make it," Fuld said Generoso told him.
"[I said,] 'C'mon, you can make it. You're almost there.' "
As Generoso struggled to come ashore, Fuld said he was hysterical about his cousins and friend.
Fuld saw two heads struggling to stay afloat further out in the lake, then dip under and vanish.
"It was horrible to see their heads disappear," he said.
Divers recovered the bodies of Coluccio and Dupont, a Kingsborough Community College student, on Sunday.
Milito, who worked in construction, was pulled from the water yesterday in front of dozens of family members who'd made the trek from Brooklyn.
Before he was recovered from the 40-degree water, his sobbing mother howled, "Carlo, where are you?"
When he was found, she cried, "I just want to touch the water."
Generoso worked with Anthony for his family's business at Royal Crown Magnifico Panini in Bensonhurst.
