Suffolk County police Marine Bureau officers rescued three people from the Great South Bay early Sunday after they drifted about a mile from their boat while swimming.
Another passenger on the 22-foot Grady White boat called 911 to report the trio missing around 2 a.m. Sunday, police said.
Marine Bureau officers were deployed aboard two police vessels, Marine X-Ray and Marine Kilo, in the search, authorities said.
Officers William Houst, John Mullins and Steve Squires, on Marine X-Ray, located the boat about a mile from the Bayport shore, police said.
Officers Shane Parker, Robert Mroczkowski and Michael Haggerty, on Marine Kilo, searched the area with aviation officers in a helicopter and located the three swimmers about 3:15 a.m. nearly a mile west of the boat, according to police.
The swimmers, from Patchogue, North Massapequa and Huntington Station, and ranging in age from 28 to 33, had been in the water for about three hours, and only one wore a flotation device, police said.
They were brought to shore by Marine Kilo and evaluated by Sayville Rescue near Brown’s River Road in Sayville, police said.
