South Carolina man drowns at Fire Island’s Sailors Haven beach

A 59-year-old South Carolina man drowned Saturday afternoon while swimming at Sailors Haven on Fire Island.

Police said Ishmoile Mohammed became caught in a rip current that pulled him west. Lifeguards brought him to shore about 2:45 p.m. and, with assistance from Fire Island National Seashore staff, tried to save him.

Mohammed, a section chief at New York Army National Guard, was airlifted to South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore, where he was pronounced dead.

Sailors Haven — accessible by ferry from Sayville — is part of Fire Island National Seashore and a popular destination for day-trippers. The drowning came on the day that ocean beaches across Long Island reopened as the remnants of Hurricane Erin moved further out into the Atlantic, away from the East Coast.

Suffolk County Police said the fatality is under investigation.

Ishmoile Mohammed’s 2021 interview with The Saratogian

5W: MSgt. Ishmoile Mohammed

_{Top photo: Brian Harmon for GLI}