A young girl bathing at Coney Island was one of seven swimmers swept out to sea from New York's beaches at the weekend in a wave of drownings.

The surge in deaths came as crowds who flocked to local beaches because of a heat wave were met by vicious rip tides.

Three of the drownings took place at Long Beach in the New York suburbs, one of several popular beaches along the southern edge of Long Island where housing estates abut the sandy strand.

Long Beach Police Lt. Bruce Meyer said he "cannot recall there ever being back-to-back situations like this."

Police today resumed their search for Akira Johnson, aged 10, who was swept out to sea while paddling in the water at Coney Island on Saturday.

Akira was playing with her cousin, Tyriek, also 10, when both began to struggle with the current.

Bystanders yelled for help from the life-guards on duty, who were able to save Tyriek.

"The last time her little arm went up and that's what I saw and she just disappeared she was gone," witness Mark Vega told local television.

A man in his 30s or 40s also had to be pulled from the water off Coney Island in a separate incident.

Authorities had notified life-guards of a "moderate" risk of rip tides at the weekend, but no public warnings were posted.

"The undertows and rip tides have been particularly strong around the beaches for the past few weeks," Coast Guard Cmdr. Greg Hitchen said.

The deaths began at Long Beach on Friday when one man drowned and a teenager disappeared after being swept away while playing American football in three to five feet of water, just off the beach.

A third man died at Long Beach yesterday after being spotted struggling 150 yards from shore. Off-duty life-guards retrieved his unconscious body but were unable to revive him.

A 25-year-old bather drowned on Friday afternoon at Sand Bar Beach in the Hamptons, New York's summer playground.

Police said Gardy Pierre was standing in the surf with a friend when a wave knocked them over and sucked them out to sea in opposite directions. The friend managed to make it back to shore to summon help. A bystander brought Mr Pierre back to the beach, but he was pronounced dead at the hospital.

A 42-year-old man died on Saturday afternoon after being swept out to sea in nearby East Quogue.

A 22-year-old man was swept away off Jacob Riis Beach in New York City around 9:30 pm on Friday as a friend tried to rescue him.

Devon Flanders' mother Jayne said her son, who had an 18-month-old daughter, was a "great swimmer."

"They need to have more lifeguards and train them better," she told the New York Daily News. "It's unfair this happened to my son."

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