A Coast Guard Station Sandy Hook crew rescues two people 40 miles south of Sandy Hook, New Jersey, July 21, 2017 after their boat sank. U.S Coast Guard photo by Seaman Dalton Stegent.
NEW YORK – Coast Guard crews and a good Samaritan rescued two people 40 miles south of Sandy Hook, New Jersey, Friday after their boat sank.
At 9:39 a.m. watchstanders at the first Coast Guard District command center received a distress alert from an EPIRB onboard a 35-foot center console boat, 40 miles off of the coast of Sandy Hook.
A Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod HC-144 aircraft was diverted to the area of the signal and located two people in a life raft near an overturned boat and its debris.
An MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Air Station Atlantic City launched and arrived on scene but was unable to deploy a rescue swimmer in the water due to visible sharks in the area.
A good Samaritan aboard a fishing vessel nearby rescued the two people from the raft.
A Coast Guard Station Sandy Hook boatcrew arrived on scene and safely transported the two people over to their 47-foot Motor Lifeboat and safely brought them back to Sandy Hook.
No injuries were reported and the cause of the vessel sinking is unknown.
