4 rescued after boat capsizes near Moriches Inlet

Four people from a swamped boat in ocean waters were rescued Friday by a Coast Guard vessel, officials said. The four people were transported to South County Medical Center for evaluation and treatment. Their condition was not immediately known.

A 21-foot boat about was a half-mile east of Moriches Inlet when it began taking in water about 6 p.m., the Coast Guard said. The four on board used buckets to bail the water, but a wave capsized and swamped the boat.

A Coast Guard boat and crew from Station Moriches arrived, took the four aboard and transported them to shore, officials said.

"They did the right thing," Mark Averill, a search and rescue specialist with Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound said in a statement issued late Friday. "They were their wearing life jackets and they stayed with the boat."

A Suffolk County police marine unit stayed with the capsized vessel until it could be recovered, the Coast Guard said.