Joint effort to rescue fishermen in Raritan Bay

UNION BEACH - Sheriff Shaun Golden commended all emergency personnel who rescued two fishermen from the Raritan Bay Friday night, despite weather conditions and a language barrier with the one of the stranded men who called 911 from his cellular phone.

The two fishermen were rescued from the bay after they became stranded in the water several hundred feet off shore at high tide, authorities said.

Rescue efforts began after one of the stranded fishermen dialed 911 from his cellular phone at 7:40 p.m., said Cynthia Scott, spokeswoman for the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office.

FIRST STORY: Two men rescued from water in Union Beach

The distress call came in to Monmouth County’s 911 center, resulting in the deployment of Monmouth County’s Marine Task Force and the Sheriff’s Office’s vessel, Marine 1, according to Scott.

Despite a language barrier, a dispatcher was able to gather enough information to determine that the fishermen were stranded off the area of Union Beach and Keyport, Scott said.

Joining sheriff’s officers in the rescue effort was a member of Middletown’s Brevent Park Fire Department task force.

The rescuers got close enough by vessel to quickly rescue one of the fishermen, but they were not able to get to the second fisherman, Scott said.

As a result, a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter flew from Atlantic City to hoist the second man out of the water, according to Scott.

The second man was pulled out of the water at 10:34 p.m. and flown to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst to be cared for by emergency medical service personnel, according to a news release from the New York Public Affairs Department of the U.S. Coast Guard.

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

She did not know the identities or conditions of either of the fishermen, but she said the raw, stormy weather and cold water temperature played a part in the incident.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Frank Iannaczzo-Simmons reported that the fishermen were wading in the water when they became stranded.

“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," Iannaczzo-Simmons said.

He also did not know the identities or conditions of the rescued fishermen.

Neither Iannaczzo-Simmons or Scott could say the depth of the water that the two men were trapped in.

Scott said the pair had been fishing in the bay since Friday afternoon.

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Those involved in the rescue included the New Jersey State Police Marine Services Bureau, Keyport and Union Beach emergency medical services, Union Beach police and emergency management and Monmouth County’s Office of Emergency Management.

Kathleen Hopkins: 732-643-4202; Khopkins@app.com