Five Rescued After Boat Capsizes In Nissequogue River

KINGS PARK, NY - Five people were rescued after a Town of Smithtown bay constable boat capsized on Tuesday morning, according to Deputy Chief Kevin McPadden.

At about 11:45 a.m., three bay constables and two members of the park department were performing maintenance at the mouth of the Nissequogue River by the eastern part of Sunken Meadow beach removing channel markers about 20 yards from the shore.

At one point, they had a utility door open to bring markers onto the vessel and one of the markers spun around and got caught.

The boat then began to take on some water which caused the boat lean to one side.

Within a few seconds, they all went into the water wearing life vests.

A dredging vessel owned by HL Contracting nearby saw the boat capsize and sprung into action to help the five people. They were able to rescue of the people on board.

One of the bay constables clung onto side of vessel and another member managed to swim to shore.

All five were eventually taken to shore where they were treated by the Kings Park Fire Department for hypothermia and exposure. They were all taken to St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown.

"Had that [dredging] crew not been a short distance and been there to help the situation could have been grave," McPadden said.

Patch File Photo