Albany couple drowns as rescue efforts fail

ALBANY — Despite a rescue attempt, an Albany couple, Barbara Agelatos, 57, and her husband Denis, 70, drowned Saturday while swimming in rough surf off Lantana, Fla.

The couple was staying at a cousin’s condominium in the town about 10 miles south of Palm Beach for a couple weeks. They were lost in a unguarded area north of Lantana’s public beach.

Calling a phone number listed to the Agelatos in Albany resulted in a message explaining the phone was disconnected.

After leaving the scene, Palm Beach Post reporter Kimberly Miller, said no other information was immediately available. She reported the story:

As 61-year-old man Harvey Kertzman was eating oatmeal with his father on the 8th floor balcony of his South Palm Beach condominium he saw a woman swimming in the ocean below. A little while later, a man joined her in the water.

“It didn’t look like they were in trouble. There was no waving or flailing. No one was yelling for help,” Kertzman said.

A woman standing on the near empty beach looked agitated as she spoke into her cell phone, and then Barbara appeared to lay on her side in the water while Denis tried to keep her head above the crashing waves.

“Something doesn’t look right,” Kertzman told his dad.

Kertzman rushed out of the condo, called 911 (police had already been notified, he was told) jumped over a retaining wall onto the beach and bolted into the water.

Another man had already gone in to try and save the couple. Kertzman only knows him as “Dave.” Neither said a word as Dave caught the woman, and Kertzman grabbed the man.

“It’s very hard to pull dead weight,” Kertzman said. “I knew about every five seconds a wave would come, and I used that.”

Kertzman got Denis’ head out of the water, but his body was still in the surf. He was unresponsive. Barbara lay on the sand nearby. Kertzman said he didn’t think she was breathing. He started CPR.

By now, someone was running south to the Lantana lifeguard tower for help.

Lantana Marine Safety Officer John Johnson and another lifeguard rushed to the scene.

“I’ve never had this before, not two at once,” Johnson said.

Kertzman collapsed exhausted into the sand, his shoulders spent from the chest compressions.

Palm Beach County Fire Rescue treated the couple and took them to JFK Medical Center, but they never recovered.

The Agelatos’ blue beach towel, with a pack of cigarettes, a cell phone, sunglasses and two pairs of flip-flops lay on the sand until sheriff’s investigators picked them up.