A TWIN TRAGEDY IN POOL
3-year-old brothers drown at LI home
Playful twin brothers slipped out of their Long Island home while their mom was sleeping Wednesday — and when she awoke, one was floating in the backyard pool and the other was down at the bottom, authorities said.
A short time later, they were both dead.
“You can’t imagine,” was all the boys’ grandmother, Veronica Aurilia, could utter to The Post hours after the tragedy that killed 3-year-olds Nicholas and Anthony Aurilia in Melville.
Sue Aurilia, 42, first noticed the sons she called “miracle babies” were missing when she woke up at about 8:30 a.m., police said.
She asked her other son, 5-year-old Christian, where the twins were, but he told his mom he didn’t know.
Then she looked out the backyard window and saw Nicholas’ body floating in their in-ground pool, authorities said.
The frantic mother rushed outside, pulled Nicholas out of the water and performed CPR on the tot while calling 911 on a speaker phone.
She told responding rescuers team that she didn’t know where Anthony was, but when they dived into the murky waters, they made the heartbreaking discovery — the little boy’s body at the bottom.
The twins were rushed in critical condition to Plainview Hospital, but both died a short time later.
“This appears to be a tragic accident,” Suffolk County Police Lt. Kevin Beyrer said at a press conference.
Officials said it’s unclear how the children got out of the $890,000, four-bedroom home into which the Aurilia family had moved last month after living in Flushing, Queens.
The children’s father, Patrick Aurilia, a lawyer at Fabiani Cohen & Hall in Manhattan, was already at his office when tragedy struck his family.
“He left for work this morning while they were sleeping,” his sister and aunt to the boys, Michelle Aurilia, told The Post.
“They’re just still in shock,” she said of Sue and Patrick.
A family friend said the mom struggled to get pregnant both times — and was overcome with joy when she had her three adorable boys.
“She has such difficulty with pregnancies, so having three of them was just a super blessing. I cannot even believe this is happening to her,” said Eboni Huggins, a close friend of Sue’s who worked with her at a Queens Rite Aid for nearly a decade.
“All three kids were all just miracle babies and it’s really a sad thing.”
Huggins described the kids as “all so rambunctious and just loving to each other.”
“Christian was such a good big brother to the twins and Sue is such a gentle soul, so she always looked at everything at the positive and the bright side,” the heartbroken friend said.
The sentiment was shared by others who know the family.
Patrick is “a very good man, very gentle,” and his wife is “always taking care of the children,” said Martin Mejia, a building employee of the Aurilias’ former Queens residence on 147th Street, who said he remembered them well.
A former co-worker of Patrick’s at a previous law firm said the news hit him hard.
“I feel devastated,” the former co-worker said. “I have twins myself. I just think any parent couldn’t imagine what he’s going through unless you had to go through that.”
The Aurilias’ Long Island neighbors were equally stunned by the tragic incident in their leafy neighborhood.
“It’s a horrible tragedy,” Yoram Amiran said. “I know many people have great fun with pools and want pools when they have chil- dren, so I don’t judge. It’s horrible. It’s tragic.”
Gurbaksh Ahuja, 74, who lives down the street, immediately arranged to have a fence installed around his pool Wednesday after learning what happened.
“My grandson is 2 years old. He runs. So I called them to put a fence up for the pool. I was very upset,” Ahuja said.
The Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad is investigating the drowning deaths, even though cops believe it was an accident.
An autopsy will be performed by the Nassau County Medical Examiner’s Office. Additional reporting by Alex Taylor