One of the four men killed when a fishing boat overturned off the coast of Queens and was a beloved father of three who owned a popular neighborhood deli.
Francis Marmolejos, 37, of Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, was among the six friends aboard a 30-foot fishing boat that capsized in Ambrose Channel Sunday after beginning to take on water near Breezy Point.
“He had his own bodega, and he was a hardworker,” a relative who gave her name as Jasmin told the Daily News.
“He was an amazing father. He was like a father to me,” said Jasmin over the phone as the cries of other distraught relatives could be heard in the background. “He is always going to be remembered in our hearts. He was a loving man. He was amazing.”
Family and friends are struggling to accept the loss.
“Fishing was his hobby. I guess he couldn’t wait for summer,” said cousin Edward Leonardo. “Life is crazy sometimes.”
On Wednesday, there was a memorial to Marmolejos outside the Best Deli Grocery he ran with his brother on Wyckoff Ave. near Halsey St. in Ridgewood with votive candles, beer bottles and a page torn from The News featuring a story about the tragic mishap.
Winston Sanchez, who grew up with Marmolejos in La Vega, Dominican Republic, said his friend was a father to two boys and a girl and had operated the deli for 10 years.
“Everybody likes him. Good, good man,” said Sanchez. “He’s a good man, a good father, a good worker.”
“He likes to go fishing. That’s the problem, he likes fishing,” he added. “All the time he goes on the boat. He’s got a lot of friends that have boats.”
Sanchez said Marmolejos owned a boat himself, but it was not the one that sank.
A family friend said Marmolejos’ wife is especially devastated.
The boat, which departed from a dock on Cross Bay Blvd. near 162nd Ave. in Howard Beach, began its trip on the Shellbank Basin, a narrow inlet leading to Jamaica Bay.
Water began to seep into the boat and one of the panicked men called 911 at 12:04 p.m., Coast Guard officials said Wednesday.
One of two survivors, Sewchand Maniram, 62, told his daughter about the horror that began to unfold.
“One minute everything was fine, and then next minute it was chaos,” Asha Maniram said her father told her. “He said they ended up in the water, and they were trying to help each other out.”
On Wednesday, a Coast Guard spokesman said as soon as the call came in the agency immediately dispatched two boats and a helicopter to respond to the area around Breezy Point. They were soon joined by the NYPD and FDNY.
The Coast Guard continued to track the call with help from New York City and Monmouth County 911 and were able to get a possible location around 2 p.m. near the Ambrose Channel, a busy shipping channel between Queens and Staten Island.
“At approximately 2:15 pm, Coast Guard crews arrived at the location of the distressed vessel and commenced rescue efforts,” the Coast Guard spokesman said.
Coast Guard rescue crews, along with the NYPD aviation unit and Sandy Hook Pilots, pulled five of the men from the channel and began a search for the sixth.
The other fisherman who lived through the ordeal, Enrique Diaz, 55, is recovering in the surgical intensive care unit at Staten Island University Hospital North.
“I’m thankful,” said Jonathan Diaz, 33, of his father’s survival. “I’m happy, but at the end of the day it’s a lot of people [who died]. It’s unfortunate for the other families. They all went through the same situation.”
Cecilio Javier Adames, 50, was one of the four men who did not survive.
Adames, who lived in Howard Beach and had recently become a grandfather, worked as an Uber driver and performed maintenance in office buildings.
The victim’s 15-year-old daughter, Alisha, told The News her father was an avid fisherman.
“He loved fishing. He did it for a long time, like 10 to 15 years,” said the teen.
After searching until 6 p.m. Monday, the Coast Guard suspended the search for Vernon Glasford, 51, who is believed to be dead.
“The decision to suspend a search is always difficult,” said Capt. Jonathan Andrechik, the Coast Guard Sector New York commander. “Though our active search has ended, our support and sympathy remain with all those impacted by this tragic incident.”
Glasford’s sister, who lives in the same building as her brother in the University Heights neighborhood of the Bronx, said he was a construction worker originally from St. Kitts and Nevis and a father of two.
“He went fishing all the time. He did it for fun. He’d often give the fish away, that’s how generous he was,” said Jenel Bobb. “I remember his kindness. He was loving and dependable.”
With Thomas Tracy