By John Burton
KEANSBURG – The U.S. Coast Guard yesterday came to the rescue of two men clinging to a small, capsized boat in the Raritan Bay.
The Coast Guard received a call from Keansburg police about the men in distress at approximately 11:45 a.m., Monday, according to Petty Officer Spencer Hinman, a Coast Guard spokesman stationed at the guard’s Sandy Hook facility.
The crew of a 25-foot rescue vessel took about 15 minutes to reach the site, where they found the two men hanging on to the mostly submerged, overturned hull of a 12-foot pleasure craft.
The men, who were not identified and were not wearing life preservers, had been in the water for about 30 minutes and were beginning to show signs of hypothermia, Hinman said.
The men were taken to Keyport’s harbor, where the local first aid transported them to Bayshore Medical Center, Holmdel. The men were released later in the day, Hinman said.
The boat’s operator told the rescue team his boat was overwhelmed by a swell, Hinman said.
The boat “was basically sunk,” Hinman said, adding, the men did not offer the reason they were out on the water.
