Fire boat crews rescue adrift swimmer off Long Island, New York

By Baird Maritime - July 19, 2021.

*A Wading River Fire Department rescue boat sails to Shoreham Beach, New York, to assist in the rescue of an adrift swimmer on July 18, 2021. (Photo: Wading River Fire Department)*

Boat crews from the Wading River Fire Department of Long Island, New York, successfully rescued a swimmer who was initially reported as missing after having drifted far from shore in Long Island Sound on Sunday, July 18.

The boat crews were despatched at 06:53 local time after a call came in saying that a 21-year-old female who had gone out for a morning swim off Long Island’s Shoreham Beach was last seen drifting east.

With the assistance of a helicopter sent to the area by the Suffolk County Police Department, the Wading River Fire Department personnel located the missing swimmer approximately 800 metres offshore and brought her aboard their rescue boat.

The woman was then transported to shore, where she was treated by responding emergency medical services personnel. She was then brought by ambulance to hospital in nearby Riverhead.

Local police said the woman did not suffer any serious injuries.