State Police Rescue Four From Stranded Barge In Icy Waters

LONG BEACH TOWNSHIP, NJ - State Marine Police Troopers rescued four people who were stranded on a barge off High Bar Harbor on Saturday afternoon, according to the Marine Police Facebook page.

The passengers were already in the early stages of hypothermia when Sgt. Adam Graczyk and Trooper James Duff from the Marine Services Bureau Ocean Station and the Tactical Insertion and Directed Enforcement Unit (TIDE Unit) arrived at 4:12 p.m., the post states.

The barge was stranded due to a "blowout tide," tide, which happens when water is blown away from the shore during a low tide, making it difficult or impossible to navigate back to land, according to the post.

The victims were airlifted on a State Police vessel to a local marina, where they were met by medical personnel. They were treated at the scene and released.

"These tides are not only dangerous to those stranded," the post states. "Those who respond to assist and rescue distressed vessels in these conditions put themselves at risk as well."

Photo: New Jersey State Marine Police file photo