2 Fishermen Rescued from Raritan Bay

Union Beach, NJ - Two fishermen had to be rescued from Raritan Bay Friday night, according to Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden, whose officers led the rescue.

The men were stranded in the water several hundred feet off shore when they got stuck at high tide, near Union Beach and Keyport, according to the sheriff's office. One of the men called 911 from his cell phone at 7:40 p.m. Friday. The men were not in a boat: They had been fishing and wading in the water off the rocks when they got sucked out in the incoming tide.

Sheriff's officers, aboard Marine 1, got close enough to rescue one of the fishermen, but water conditions did not allow them to get to the second, who was still in the cold water.

A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter was flown in from Atlantic City to pull the second man out of the water at 10:34 p.m. He was flown to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst for medical care.

The first fisherman was taken to Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank to be treated for hypothermia.

“They were going out fishing and wading in the water, and high tide started coming in, and that’s when they came to be stuck," Coast Guard Petty Officer Frank Iannaczzo-Simmons told the APP.

Assisting in the rescue were Keyport & Union Beach EMS, Union Beach PD, Union Beach OEM & Monmouth County OEM.

Photo: Monmouth County Sheriff's Office Marine 1, which helped with the rescue Friday night. Stock image of Raritan Bay