1 Dead, 1 Injured After Small Boat Capsizes In Raritan Bay Off Staten Island
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Authorities said one person is dead and another has been hospitalized after a boat capsized off Staten Island.
It happened around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in the Raritan Bay near Great Kills Harbor. Coast Guard spokesman Charles Rowe said rescuers found the 19-foot power boat partially submerged.
1 Dead, 1 Injured After Small Boat Capsizes In Raritan Bay Off Staten Island
Video from the scene showed only the hull of the small vessel visible above the water. Ambulances could be seen on the dock nearby.
FDNY Marine Unit Lt. Ed Poley said first responders spotted one man floating face down and another clinging to the hull of the boat, 1010 WINS' Al Jones reported.
"It's definitely good we got to them when we did. Neither of them had life preservers on," he said.
Two men, ages 84 and 82, were pulled from the water, but the 84-year-old man died, police said. The 82-year-old man was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
The man who died was identified as Anthony Accardo, Jones reported.
"It's like mixed emotions. On the one hand it's nice to have been fortunate enough to be right there and to have gotten to him before he drowned," Poley said.
As CBS 2's Alice Gainer reported, neighbors called Accardo 'Tony' and said that he lived a private life, but loved to fish.
"He would sometimes get so much fish he would come over and bring me wheel barrels. I'm talking sea bass," neighbor Zina Bonono said.
Preliminary information indicated the boat's anchor line wrapped around the motor, causing the vessel to become unstable, Jones reported.
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