2 Men Rescued From South Amboy Marsh Were Extremely Cold, Taken To Hospital, Officials Say

SOUTH AMBOY, NJ — The two young men who had to be rescued Sunday evening after their motorboat became stuck in the marsh in Raritan Bay were extremely cold and had to be taken to a local hospital to be checked for hypothermia, Sayreville Fire Department Chief Rich Masterson said Tuesday.

The two men were in their 20s, he estimated, and they were extremely cold when Sayreville firefighters, wearing boots and full-body ice rescue suits, pulled them from the marsh in South Amboy Sunday night.

Both were treated by EMS on the scene and then taken to a hospital for treatment of hypothermia. They had been stuck in the marsh "for hours" Sunday, said Masterson:

They were fishing and departed from the River Road boat ramp in Sayreville in a small fishing boat earlier Sunday afternoon. The wind and waves pushed them into the marsh in South Amboy where they became stuck.

The men called 911 for help from a cell phone. But the sun had set and Sayreville Police and Fire had to call for back-up to help find the men. At 6 p.m. South Amboy Police were called in to help search for the boat in the dark; it was only using South Amboy's drone that police were able to find the boat. The drone has an infrared/thermal camera, night vision and zoom vision.

The Sayreville Fire Department used one of their Zodiac inflatable rescue boats to get to the boys. It was too shallow to get to them by boat, so firefighters had to wade into the water to rescue them. In total, it took two and a half hours for firefighters to get to their location and pull them from the boat into a fire dept. rescue boat.

Teenage Boys Rescued After Boat Gets Stuck In Raritan Bay Marsh Sunday Night