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A lifeguard from Queens who was called a hero for rescuing several people during Sandy has apparently drowned while surfing off a popular beach town in Puerto Rico.
According to police, the body of 23-year-old Dylan Smith of Belle Harbor, New York was found floating Sunday morning near his surfboard in waters off Maria's Beach in the western Puerto Rican community of Rincon.
The night Sandy hit, Smith helped rescue six people using a homemade rope bridge and his surfboard as fires spread across the flooded Rockaway Peninsula.
Dead: The body of Dylan Smith, 23, of Belle Harbor, New York was found floating near his surfboard in the tourist destination of Rincon, police said. He was celebrated as a hero for help saving the lives of six people during Superstorm Sandy
Smith was recently selected as one of People Magazine's Heroes of 2012.
Authorities say a local resident spotted Smith in the water Sunday and brought him to shore. A local doctor tried to resuscitate him but the surfer showed no signs of life.
The U.S. Caribbean territory's police are investigating the death.
'The same sport -- the sport of surfing -- that he used to save all those people, it’s so shocking that he perished that way,' said FDNY Chief Michael Light, a family friend, told the New York Daily News.
Light called Smith 'absolute hero,' and said the young surfer went to Puerto Rico to 'blow off some steam. He took a little vacation just to unwind.'
Ryan Moroney, 22, Smith’s cousin, told the Daily News the surfer was a like superhero. 'He was Aquaman,' Moroney said.
'If you were in need, Dylan would be there to help, hands down, no questions asked,' he added. 'His passions were to just go out and enjoy life — and anything anybody needed, he was always there.'
