3 plucked from Long Island Sound in Rye after surging waters strand them on rock while fishing

Three Queens residents stranded on a rock in Long Island Sound were rescued Wednesday afternoon Oct. 12, 2011, by the Westchester County Police Aviation Unit and marine units from the Rye and Greenwich, Conn., police departments. 

RYE — As choppy waters rose around them, three Queens residents stranded on a rock in Long Island Sound were rescued Wednesday afternoon by the Westchester County Police Aviation Unit and marine units from the Rye and Greenwich, Conn., police departments, authorities said.

The harrowing rescue effort came after the trio — a woman and two men — walked out to a rocky outcropping at low tide to do some fishing off Oakland Beach in Rye, county police spokesman Kieran O'Leary said. The three became trapped when the tide surged in faster than they expected and the surf turned rough, stranding them about 50 yards offshore.

Officers from Rye and Greenwich responded about 11:45 a.m.

"Four- to six-foot swells, coupled with the rocky area where the trio was stranded, made the rescue effort difficult," O'Leary said.

The woman was eventually taken aboard the Rye police boat, manned by officers Michael Kenny and Mauricio Gomez. Rye officers also tossed life vests to the two men.

The Westchester County police helicopter moved in as the tide closed around the two fishermen, submerging the small spot where they stood. Detective Christopher Lieberman, the Aviation Unit's chief pilot, hovered the aircraft at the water's surface while police officer Michael Brady went out on the aircraft's skids and hauled one of the men into the helicopter.

The second man lost his footing and fell into the water but stayed afloat with the life vest. Lieberman repositioned the aircraft as the man drifted away, and Brady was able to reach that man and pull him up and into the helicopter as well, O'Leary said.

http://www.lohud.com

Marine police units from Greenwich, Rye, NY, Westchester County Police battled the wind-shipped waters of Long Island Sound to rescue three fishermen stranded on a rock off the coast of Rye, late Wednesday morning.

According to a Rye Police report, Martin Butler of Philips Lane, called about 12:42 p.m. to report three people stranded on the rock and were being swamped by the incoming tide. The trio - a woman and two men clad in rain gear - were spotted near 16 Philips Ln.

Greenwich Marine Police Sgt. James Bonney said the 30 mph winds created 8-foot seas which hampered the efforts of the GPD police boat to arrive at the scene, about a quarter-mile from Rye Playland. He said Rye called Greenwich for assistance and it took nearly a half-hour to make the trip. Rye Police officer Michael Kenny hopped onto the 34-foot Greenwich Police boat to help negotiate it along the rocky shoreline.

Bonney said that he threw three life jackets to the victims. "They launched me in an 8-foot dinghy to get the woman on the rocks. She was in the boat but we were swamped by a wave," Bonney said. The unidentified woman was pulled out by Greenwich officers Joh Repik and Frank Di Pietro. She was transferred to a US Coast Guard rescue boat and brought to shore, Bonney said.

The two unidentified men were plucked from the waters by a Westchester County Police Department Aviation unit. All three were brought to a local hospital for treatment of exposure.

Bonney estimated the water temperature to be 67 degrees. "But with 25 knot winds - 30 mph winds, you get cold." He added, "With the east winds, it's frickin' rough, waves crashing over the top of our boat."

According to Kieran O'Leary of the Westchester County Office of Communications, said the fishermen apparently walked from Rye Town Park out to a rock to fish.