ROCKAWAY TRAGEDY:
Emergency workers lay a sheet yesterday over the body of Yevgeniy “Eugene” Glebov, who vanished during a dive off the Rockaways Friday.
ROCKAWAY TRAGEDY: Emergency workers lay a sheet yesterday over the body of Yevgeniy “Eugene” Glebov (left), who vanished during a dive off the Rockaways Friday. (
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A daring spear fisherman who hunted giant bass in the rough waters off the Rockaways without an air tank was found dead in his diving gear by a tugboat crew yesterday, four days after he was swept out to sea.
Yevgeniy “Eugene” Glebov, 29, a Brighton Beach lifeguard who planned to end his diving career with the pending birth of his daughter, was still wearing his fins, wetsuit and depth gauge when his body surfaced off Beach 217th Street about three miles from where he vanished Friday.
“His wife is having a baby in two weeks. This is terrible. He loved life; he loved people,” said an aunt, Sonya Kordonsky.
A cousin, Anna Andreyeva, 24, added, “The baby will be named after him: Eugenia. He was excited to be a father. He wanted to drop his passion for a new passion.”
Glebov, who lived on Staten Island, spent nearly every summer day free-diving, delving into deep waters without any external breathing apparatus. He was supposed to meet a buddy on Friday to dive for striped bass, but apparently went in alone. By 3 p.m., the friend reported him missing.
Early yesterday, a tugboat crew spotted a body bobbing in the water and notified the Coast Guard.
There were no obvious signs of trauma on the 10-year diving vet.
About a dozen family members, including his mom, Valentina, 54, and his dad, Valeriy, 65, hugged and cried on a pier in Riis Park, facing the NYPD harbor boat.
Glebov’s father sobbed, “Two weeks ago, he rescued a girl . . . stuck in a fishing net. We were hoping for a miracle. We were really hoping he would be found alive.”
Bill Reddan, a retired NYPD scuba instructor, said Glebov could have died from “shallow- water blackout” — brought on by a lack of carbon dioxide combined with a dip in oxygen usually occurring about five feet below the surface.
“Or he could have gotten tangled up in some sort of netting, could be rocks. It also depends on the visibility,” Reddan said.