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Brother drowns after going underwater with 2 family members at New York lake, cops say

A brother drowned after his uncle and sister tried saving him at White Lake in New York, police say. All three went underwater before divers arrived.
A brother drowned after his uncle and sister tried saving him at White Lake in New York, police say. All three went underwater before divers arrived. Getty Images/iStockphoto

An 18-year-old drowned after going underwater with his sister and uncle in a deep section of a New York lake, police say.

After the brother, Basir Amin, began struggling at White Lake in Bethel around 2 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 28, his older sister and uncle swam over to help him, according to a New York State Police news release.

However, all three went under “and did not resurface,” authorities say.

The family members were underwater for “a period of time” before divers from a local fire company arrived and brought them out of the lake, according to police. The family had been swimming in the lake for roughly four hours prior to Amin’s struggle.

Ultimately, Amin, his sister and uncle were brought to a nearby medical center where Amin was pronounced dead, the release says.

The sister and uncle were considered to be in “critical condition” as of Aug. 28, according to the release.

White Lake can reach depths up to 85 feet, according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

Bethel is roughly 115 miles southwest of Albany.

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This story was originally published August 29, 2022 at 2:17 PM with the headline "Brother drowns after going underwater with 2 family members at New York lake, cops say."

Julia Marnin
McClatchy DC
Julia Marnin covers courts for McClatchy News, writing about criminal and civil affairs, including cases involving policing, corrections, civil liberties, fraud, and abuses of power. As a reporter on McClatchy’s National Real-Time Team, she’s also covered the COVID-19 pandemic and a variety of other topics since joining in 2021, following a fellowship with Newsweek. Born in Biloxi, Mississippi, she was raised in South Jersey and is now based in New York State.
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