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Body Pulled From Hudson River After Car Plunges Into Water

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Rescue crews pulled a body from the Hudson River after a car plunged into the water early Wednesday morning.

Around 3:30 a.m., a car drove through the parking lot at Liberty Marina in Jersey City, crashed through barricades and landed in the water.

"The car was going pretty fast," said witness Axel Colon. "Went down, it just kind of flew about 30 feet."

For more than an hour, divers searched the frigid water for the driver and any passengers who may have been inside the car.

Body Pulled From Hudson River After Car Plunges Into Water

Crews pulled a 22-year-old man out of the river, but he was pronounced dead at a hospital, police said.

Bernadette Pych says the victim was her brother, Mark Pych. She told CBS 2's Don Champion that her brother was a recent graduate from Rutgers University and had gone out to celebrate New Year's Eve at a nearby club.

"Very social -- he had a lot of friends.  Everyone loved him.  He would always make you laugh," Pych said. "I don't know how I'm going to go on without him."

Witnesses said they saw others in the car, but police said there is no indication that there were any passengers.  Police conducted a secondary search just to be sure.

The cause of the crash is under investigation. Officials said toxicology tests will be conducted to see if drugs or alcohol played a role in the fatal crash.

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