A 77-year-old Russian grandmother who was visiting her family in Brooklyn was having so much fun at Manhattan Beach Park that she contacted her daughter and asked her to wait to pick her up as the lifeguards were about to finish their shift.
It’s windy. Liudmila Marchenko informed her daughter that the weather was favorable. Let me have an hour.
Tragic events befell the cherished granny a few minutes later. Just as the lifeguards’ shifts finished that day, August 11, swimmers found her floating face down in the water, her daughter told the Daily News.
According to Natalia Sapunkova, there were likely fifteen minutes between our talk with my mother, the call, and the accident. My mom was discovered floating face down by people swimming nearby, and they summoned lifeguards. However, this occurred around six o’clock, possibly 6:01 p.m., and naturally, lifeguards are finishing off at this time.
Around 6:15 p.m., Park Enforcement Patrol officers informed lifeguards of Marchenko’s predicament in the waters off the park close to Oriental Blvd., according to a Parks Department spokesperson.
According to the Park spokeswoman, lifeguards performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the victim as paramedics hurried her to Coney Island Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at approximately 7 p.m. According to the Parks spokeswoman, lifeguards were not on duty because the event happened after the beach is closed to swimmers.
Marchenko, a former accountant for the Russian national road and rail service and a resident of Kemerovo in southwest Siberia, had flown into the country on July 15 to celebrate her daughter’s birthday and spend time with her family in Sheepshead Bay.
Marchenko spoke to the gathering, delivered a poem, and sang a beautiful song for her daughter during the celebrations for Sapunkova’s birthday party on August 1st, according to a family friend.
According to Sofia Kozel, she sang a song that was dedicated to her baby while giving her lovely speech. I was very impressed by her. She was stunningly gorgeous. cherished life.
Marchenko decided she wanted to see the White House while she was in the United States, so she and her family went to D.C. for a day and posed for photos outside the Washington Monument and the National Gallery.
However, according to her granddaughter, the woman, who was from a landlocked area of Siberia, loved to visit Brooklyn’s southern coast because she could spend hours swimming in the surf.
Every day she was at the beach. She would spend nearly the whole day in the water. According to Yana Sapunkova, 20, there aren’t many beaches like that in Russia. Manhattan Beach and Coney Island may be a tad nasty, but they’re still better than nothing. She had a great time.
Around 5:45 p.m. on Monday, the victim’s daughter said that her mother had been at Manhattan Beach for hours when she called and stated that she wasn’t prepared to leave the shore.
Around 5:45 p.m., she called, and I replied, “Okay, I’m home.” Are you prepared to be picked up? “No, give me more time,” she said.
Marchenko negotiated with Natalia Sapunkova until she agreed to a 7 p.m. pickup, even though she just intended to give her mother an additional 30 minutes. But her mother wasn’t picking up her phone when she got there.
Near a flat rock on the shore that had been her regular spot, Marchenko’s daughter claimed to have gone looking for her mother. According to Natalia Sapunkova, she located her phone, clothes, shoes, and purse, but her mother was not there.
Following an hour-long search, Natalia Sapunkova called the police, who told her to submit a missing person’s report at the 61st Precinct on Coney Island. She met two police officers who responded to the drowning there and discovered her mother’s terrible fate.
According to Natalia Sapunkova, “I can’t accept it.” From my perspective, it is unacceptable. I still have her.
The victim’s mother called to inform her granddaughter that her beloved grandmother had passed away when she was in Pennsylvania for a music festival.
Yana Sapunkova claimed that she contributed to the quality of her childhood. My grandmother was so wonderful and always loved us.
According to Marchenko’s daughter, she hopes that other beachgoers would learn from her mother’s passing and avoid the shore while lifeguards are not on duty.
Natalia Sapunkova stated, “I hope this story will help someone be safe in the water.” You alone are accountable if you choose to swim so late after lifeguards.
