False Alarm: Tappan Zee Construction Buoy Mistaken for Boat in Distress

What looked like a sailboat in distress on the Hudson River just north of the Tappan Zee Bridge this morning turned out to be a construction buoy.

Members of the Nyack Fire Department even thought there was an overturned sailboat as they approached the object in the water. However, Deputy Chief Vincent Reid said that as firefighters in the department's marine unit got to the object it became clear it was a buoy.

The approximately 15-foot-long, bright green buoy, Reid said, is used tie up floating construction barges that are part of the ongoing project to replace the aging Tappan Zee Bridge with a new bridge.

The buoy is far enough north of the bridge in the center of the Hudson River that it could be seen from the bridge, causing an alarmed motorist to call authorities about the object.

Four volunteer firefighters from the Nyack Fire Department were aboard the fire department boat. The Rockland County Sheriff's Marine Unit was also dispatched from Haverstraw to the incident, but firefighters had identified the buoy shortly after the Sheriff's boat was alerted.

No one was injured in the 9:32 a.m. incident.