NEW YORK - A Coast Guard Station Sandy Hook boatcrew and New York Fire Department Marine Eight rescue crew responded to a boat fire near Sandy Hook, New Jersey, Sunday.
At approximately 5:00 p.m., watchstanders at Coast Guard Station Sandy Hook received a distress call via VHF-Channel 16 from a 40-foot recreational boat stating their vessel was on fire.
A Coast Guard Station Sandy Hook rescue crew aboard a 47-Motor Lifeboat launched to assist the distressed vessel.
Coast Guard and FDNY crews arrived on scene where a good Samaritan had safely transferred eight people off the vessel in distress.
Coast Guard Station Sandy Hook crewmembers assisted FDNY members in extinguishing the fire aboard the vessel. The fire was fully extinguished but the boat was unrecoverable and sank in 85-feet of water approximately six miles off the coast of Sandy Hook, New Jersey.
All eight people were transferred ashore by FDNY crews and were treated for minor medical concerns.
There is no report of pollution in the water at this time.