19-year-old jet-skier spends night on buoy after watercraft breaks down
(Image: Google Maps)
A 19-year-old Highlands man who failed to return home yesterday evening from a jet ski trip was found alive off Sandy Hook this morning.
U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Charles Rowe says the man had left a personal watercraft rental business in Brooklyn for Highlands when the craft was swamped on last night.
Relatives identified the man as Dylan Gowan, the son of Kerry Gowan, a well-known animal control officer in Middletown, Highlands, and other Monmouth County towns, MoreMonmouthMusings reports.
He posted “Im alive” on his Facebook page this morning.
Gowan was reported missing by relatives around 11 p.m. and an extensive search followed.
He did not have a cell phone with him, according to a WABC report.
Rowe says the man said he swam to the buoy that was to the northeast of Sandy Hook peninsula. The watercraft did not sink.
Gowan started swimming toward Sandy Hook after dawn and he was picked up by a Coast Guard boat crew this morning, Rowe said.
He was taken to a local hospital to be treated for dehydration and hypothermia, the Coast Guard spokesman said.
The New York City Police Department Aviation Unit also assisted in the search, according to the WABC report.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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