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Boy, 8, Found Unresponsive In Pool On Cruise Ship Off Breezy Point

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- An 8-year-old boy was being rushed to the hospital late Thursday after being found unresponsive in a swimming pool on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

At around 8 p.m. Thursday, the boy was found in the swimming pool on the ship,
Anthem of the Seas. The child had gone without oxygen for 18 minutes, officials told CBS2.

Anthem Of The Seas Pool
An 8-year-old boy was found unresponsive in this pool on the Anthem of the Seas cruise ship on Thursday, June 30, 2016. (Credit: @JacobTrippin, via Twitter)

The ship had left Bayonne, New Jersey, earlier in the evening, and was five to 10 miles offshore from Breezy Point, Queens, when the child was found, Joe Biermann reported from Chopper 2.

The boy was treated by the ship's medical team, but that was not sufficient, and the ship altered its course and headed back toward Bayonne, according to Royal Caribbean cruises.

The FDNY, the NYPD and the Coast Guard rushed to the ship, and the NYPD lowered medical equipment onto the deck, officials said.

The child was to be transported to a hospital on Staten Island by helicopter, officials said.

Anthem of the Seas made headlines this past winter, when it was caught in a major storm that damaged the vessel and made for scary conditions for thousands of passengers on board. Waves surged over 30 feet and winds blasted at over 75 mph.

The 4,500 passengers on board had to hunker down for hours and four suffered minor injuries.

Afterward, two trips on the vessel were cut short due to storms and in one case, a norovirus outbreak.

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