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    Mom of teen who disappeared off NY beach with friend begs ocean for her son’s body: ‘You took them, give them back’

    By Georgett Roberts, Haley Brown, Steve Janoski,

    4 days ago

    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=04Cefh_0u3nVZpm00

    The grieving mom of one of two teens swept into the ocean off a New York beach last week begged the seas to return her boy to her Tuesday — saying, “You took the life out of them, give them back.”

    Aminatu Noah, the mother of 16-year-old Elyjha Chandler, made the heartbreaking request four days after her son and his childhood friend, 17-year-old Christian Perkins, vanished into the waters off Jacob Riis Park after a swim Friday evening.

    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1GBrKN_0u3nVZpm00
    Aminatu Noah with son Elyjha Chandler in a social media post from July 2023 Aminatu Noah/Facebook
    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2rhfM8_0u3nVZpm00
    Chandler keeps vigil near the sea that snatched her son away. G.N.Miller/NYPost

    The bodies have yet to be found — and the US Coast Guard called off the search late Saturday after scouring more than 600 square-miles of water, from Sandy Hook, New Jersey to Long Beach, New York.

    That’s left Noah with few options besides standing at the water’s edge and pleading with the cruel sea that snatched away her only son.

    “You took them, give them back,” she said, her voice breaking. “You took the life out of them, give them back. I want him to just come to us. There is no closure when you don’t know where your kid is. Just come home.”

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    But he has not come back — and there is no respite for his shattered mom.

    “I don’t sleep, I don’t eat,” she told The Post. “My friends forced me to eat, because they say I might end up in the hospital, and they don’t want to see that.”

    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0R4Sf7_0u3nVZpm00
    Elyjha Chandler, 16, did well in school academically and was looking at colleges, his father said. Obtained by NY Post
    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=05nwdq_0u3nVZpm00
    Chandler loved basketball, too. But the athletic teen could not swim. Obained by the NY Post
    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3nVzpK_0u3nVZpm00
    Noah hasn’t eaten or slept since her son’s disappearance, she said. Georgett Roberts/NY Post

    “As a mom, you are thinking [about] something taking him, something eating him up, and I can’t do nothing,” she continued. “As a mom, I can’t go save him. I can’t say, ‘I’ve got you.’”

    Chandler and Perkins disappeared from the knee-high water in which they stood at about 6:30 p.m. when a vicious wave struck them, according to dad Urshell Chandler.

    “He wasn’t far out in the water,” he said previously. “One of the boys told me when the water hit them, it was like a demon coming at them.”

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    At an unrelated Tuesday press conference, Mayor Eric Adams called the two families’ loss “unimaginable.”

    “You pour so much into your children, and these young boys were not doing anything wrong,” Adams said. “They were doing what young boys do. It’s hard. It’s painful. You never really recover … it’s a painful moment.”

    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=19TJ8l_0u3nVZpm00
    A scuba team went in the water early Saturday to find the swimmers. Wayne Carrington
    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=41eMSq_0u3nVZpm00
    Beachgoers watch the search. G.N.Miller/NYPost
    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2rLt3W_0u3nVZpm00
    Noah has begged the sea to return her missing son. Georgett Roberts/NY Post

    Chandler, an athletic kid who loved school and basketball, could not swim and was scared of the water, his family said.

    But the teen — who would have turned 17 on June 28 — came to the beach on a whim, ditching basketball practice for the waves.

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    The two boys were in a group of four who took to the water.

    A good Samaritan tried to save Chandler and Perkins, but he could not drag them back to shore.

    “A man pulled him out,” Urshell Chandler said. “He was looking at Elijah. His eyes were opened wide. Elijah went up and down three times, and then they didn’t see him again.”

    On Tuesday, the distraught dad said he has not been able to go back to work — “I cry every couple hours,” he said.

    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0WWgSO_0u3nVZpm00
    Authorities called off the search after scouring 600 square-miles of ocean. Wayne Carrington
    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0OkL0J_0u3nVZpm00
    FDNY rescuers at Jacob Riis Park beach looking for the teen. Wayne Carrington

    He maintains a vigil on the beach, where he goes every day to wait for his lost son to find his way back into his arms.

    “I walk along the edge of the water, looking to see if I can see anything,” he said.

    “But I have not. I will continue to go, every day. This is hard on the family.”

    For the latest metro stories, top headlines, breaking news and more, visit nypost.com/metro/

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