ع
The New York Police Department received a 911 call at approximately 10:25 p.m. on August 8, 2026, alerting authorities to an overturned vessel near Liberty Island in New York Harbor. Multiple units including the NYPD Harbor Unit, SCUBA team and Aviation responded alongside Coast Guard and fire department resources to the scene in the Hudson River near Buoy 32. Twelve people were rescued from the water by a combination of official vessels and Good Samaritan boats before divers recovered the bodies of the two victims.
Manuel Hernandez, a 46-year-old resident of Manhattan, served as the operator of the boat that carried 14 people in total and was arrested by police around 2:30 a.m. the next morning. The NYPD charged him with 13 counts of reckless endangerment in connection with the incident that sent everyone aboard into the water. All survivors have been reported in stable condition, according to updates from participating agencies.
Coast Guard investigators, working in tandem with the Coast Guard Investigative Service and the NYPD, have launched a marine casualty probe to identify the precise cause of the capsizing. The investigation is also examining whether the vessel was chartered illegally at the time of the event, the US Coast Guard said in a statement released on August 9. The identities of the 27-year-old woman and five-month-old infant have not been disclosed as authorities work to notify their families.
U.S. Coast Guard statistics for recreational boating in 2023 documented 564 fatalities nationwide, an 11.3 percent decline from the previous year. The agency reported that the fatality rate stood at 4.9 per 100,000 registered vessels that year, continuing improvements seen over recent decades. A prior capsizing incident in the New York area on February 23, 2025, resulted in four deaths aboard a recreational vessel south of Breezy Point, according to a Coast Guard report of investigation.
Capt Doreen McCarthy of the Coast Guard said, “We are extremely grateful for the heroic, swift actions of our partner agencies and Good Samaritan vessel who assisted in rescuing survivors from the water.” The coordinated response featured two Coast Guard boats, four fire department boats, two police boats and a police helicopter. The marine casualty investigation remains ongoing with no additional details released on potential contributing factors at this stage.
