Manny Flores and Isaiah Moronta remain missing after the NYC best friends jumped into Manhattan’s Spuyten Duyvil Creek and never resurfaced.
Two 13-year-old boys remain missing after inexplicably jumping off Manhattan’s Spuyten Duyvil Creek along a virtually impossible accessible railway bridge this weekend.
Family and friends prayed as they feared for the worse as divers and boats searched for best friends, Manny Flores and Isaiah Moronta, who on a sunny, spring-like Friday shed their clothes and dove into the freezing water as five other friends watched in horror.
‘I have a tracker on his phone and I saw that he was in the Hudson,’ said Yvelise Beltry, 35, Isaiah’s grief-stricken mother, the nydailynews reported.
Isaiah’s dad, Oscar Moronta, 36, remained hopeful of on any word of his child.
‘Whatever anybody could do to find my son Manny — just keep an eye out, keep an eye out,’ he urged at an impromptu prayer circle at Inwood Hill Park, on Manhattan’s northern-most tip.
Manny’s godfather, Fernando Martinez, 36, said the family is heartbroken.
‘I’ve known Manny since he was born. I was the first one to grab him. It’s really kind of hard for us,’ Martinez said.
‘His father is home taking care of his mother, his 10-year-old sister. They’re not doing well, they start crying,’ he added. ‘We’re struggling right now, we just want answers.’
‘They’re young, they’re adventurous. They think they’re invincible,’
Captured video showed the moments leading up to both boys jumping into the river, where it is thought they miscalculated the strength of passing currents.
The boys jumped into the water about 4:30 p.m. Friday southeast of the Henry Hudson Bridge, near W. 218th St. and Indian Rd., Innwood police said. Not immediately clear is how they were able to access the beltway that only passing trains use.
Beltry said Isaiah, a good swimmer, tried to save Manny’s life and had been confident he could handle the currents.
‘He came out, and the other kid went in,’ Beltry said. ‘But he was struggling so my son went to save him. And the current took them away.’
‘I believe that my son, because he’s a good swimmer, he’s a great swimmer — he’s tall, he’s athletic — he’s somewhere, somewhere,’ she cried. ‘He’s somewhere where he needs to be found.’
‘They’re young, they’re adventurous. They think they’re invincible,’ family friend, Rosanne Lopez said.
To date investigators have yet to locate either boy or their bodies as family and friends continue to ask what prompted them to jump in the hostile waters.
