By Zachary R. Dowdy
Newsday
SUFFOLK, NY — Rescuers from several Suffolk fire departments and law enforcement agencies plucked a Centerport couple out of the thick muck of the Nissequogue River in Smithtown last night after their canoe got stuck in a patch of reeds, officials said.
Jeff Bressler, a spokesman for the Smithtown Fire Department said a hovercraft provided by the West Islip Fire Department, one of several vehicles and craft that responded to the 5:15 p.m. incident about 150 yards off the shore near the Smithtown Landing Country Club, was able to rescue the couple.
They were taken to St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown. Their identities and conditions were unknown, Bressler said.
A Nesconset firefighter who managed to reach the couple as they waited for help in the river was also rescued by the hovercraft and taken to Stony Brook University Medical Center, Bressler said.
Suffolk police, who provided support with aviation and marine unit personnel and craft, cast floodlights onto the craft as rescuers scrambled to get to the couple.
Firefighters from Nesconset and Kings Park tried to reach the couple in rafts, but the low tide stopped their craft from moving and the firefighters found themselves waist-deep in the mire.
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