Four adults and two children plunged into the water just south of the Atlantic Beach Bridge off Long Island on Saturday morning after a boat they were in suddenly capsized, the authorities said.
Members of the Nassau County Police Department's marine unit raced to the boat, which was about two miles offshore, along with the Coast Guard, the New York Fire Department and the New York Police Department, whose divers pulled an unconscious man from the submerged cabin.
Five of the six people in the water were picked up by passing boats before being transferred to Nassau police vessels, Police Officer Maureen Roach of Nassau County said.
The sixth person, a man, was brought to the surface by two detectives from the scuba team of the New York Harbor Patrol, said Sgt. Carlos Nieves, a department spokesman.
After the boat capsized, most of it was under water, the authorities said. A Coast Guard photograph showed only a portion of a sky blue hull riding above the waves.
Sgt. Nieves said that portion was kept afloat by an air bubble, but that the boat was buffeted by six-foot waves and wakes from vessels that were arriving to assist. The two divers, Detective Jeffrey Dowling and Detective Darren Blum, who were in the submerged part of the boat, feared that it was on the verge of sinking and started to leave. Then they saw a pair of feet and “decided to go back,†Sgt. Nieves said.
After tugging on the man's legs and receiving no response, Sgt. Nieves said, “They grabbed both legs and pulled him out of the cabin,†fighting their way through strands of fishing line as Detective Dowling pulled the man and Detective Bl um guided them.
When they reached the surface, Detective Dowling began giving medical assistance to the man while Detective Blum signaled for a police helicopter to lower a basket. The man, who was not identified by the authorities, was lifted into the air and brought to Staten Island University Hospital North, Sgt. Nieves said. The man was placed on a ventilator and listed in critical but stable condition.
The 23- to 25-foot boat was towed to shore on Long Island, Officer Roach said, adding that detectives and the Nassau marine unit would try to find out why the boat capsized.
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