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Two strapping young men who were practicing breath-holding exercises at a Staten Island pool yesterday to prepare for military training were pulled out unconscious and one died — after two lifeguards and 20 swimmers failed to spot them.
Bohdan Vitenko, 21, died at a hospital. His Air Force-bound buddy, Jonathan Proce, 21, was resuscitated and is in critical condition.
Vitenko’s dad, Oleg, said he and his wife were concerned about their son’s desire to be a Navy SEAL because of how dangerous it could be.
“We thought we had some time to change his mind,” the grieving dad said. “We thought this phase would pass.”
The men were yanked out of Lyons Pool in Tompkinsville at about 8:30 a.m., witnesses and authorities said.
Both men, who were in excellent shape, suffered cardiac arrest. Witnesses said they were in an area of the pool that was out of eyeshot of lifeguards.
“Lyons Pool is huge. So what’s happening in the far, far corner is hard to see. If you’re only two lanes away, it’s impossible to see,” said one witness, Janice Ellison, one of 37 poolgoers both in and out of the water.
The men were spotted floating face-down in the 3-foot-deep shallow section only when one of the two lifeguards called an end to the adult swim session.
“The lifeguards were beside themselves. They were giving them CPR. When they pulled them up, they were limp,” said Ellison, 54.
“They were doing some sort of underwater breath-holding exercise,” she added.
It’s not clear if the duo was following an official training program, or if they had devised their own workout, said Lt. Col. Robert Roy, head of Air Force recruiting in New York.
Either way, the military advises against certain breath-holding exercises or swimming underwater at length to avoid “shallow water blackout,” which can lead to drowning.
Vitenko and Proce, along with two other friends, were regulars at the municipal pool since it opened for the summer two weeks ago.
Their grueling routine included swimming and doing sit-ups underwater, and other aquatic workouts, witnesses said.
Vitenko, an immigrant from Ukraine with Navy dreams, died at Richmond University Medical Center.
Proce, a city lifeguard, was set to train for a spot with the elite Battlefield Airmen commandos — a force on par with Navy SEALs and Army Green Berets.
He worked as a lifeguard at the PS 14 swimming pool in Stapleton, sources said.
“We are just praying and hoping to God he will pull through. We all love him so much,” said his brother, Joseph, 16.
Vitenko’s dad said his son “had this thing about pushing himself towards his dreams. He was doing something about it.”
One of the uninjured men who was training was also an Air Force recruit, Roy said.
City Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe called the incident a “tragic and inconceivable accident.”
Additional reporting by Frank Rosario and Chuck Bennett