Six Rescued Off Sandy Hook Monday Afternoon

ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS, NJ — A motor boat capsized off Sandy Hook on Labor Day, and six people had to be rescued from the ocean by the U.S. Coast Guard and a passing fellow boater.

The Sandy Hook-based Coast Guard crew was out on a training exercise Monday afternoon, Sept. 4, when they received a distress call at about 1:40 p.m. on VHF-FM Channel 16 from a boater stating his 22-foot pleasure craft was taking on water and capsizing with six people aboard. That's a photo of the capsized boat above, provided by the Coast Guard.

In less than five minutes, the Coast Guard arrived on scene with a good Samaritan who also heard the distress call. The good Samaritan took three people aboard their boat and the Coast Guard crew took the remaining three people aboard their boat.

All six people were safely transferred to the Atlantic Highlands Marina with no reported injuries.

The 22-foot vessel capsized in shallow water and is anchored and marked for navigational safety until the owner can arrange salvage operations for the boat, the Coast Guard said. The Coast Guard has a station at Sandy Hook.