#17-year-old rescued from New Jersey waters after hours-long search

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An FDNY boat searches between the coasts of Tottenville and Perth Amboy for a missing 17-year-old boy.
Staten Island Advance/Rebeka Humbrecht

A 17-year-old boy was rescued from the waters in Perth Amboy, New Jersey Thursday evening after an hours-long search — and taken to the hospital in critical condition, officials said.

The teen headed into the waters of the Arthur Kill voluntarily around 2 p.m. near the Perth Amboy Yacht Club, and was recovered around 5:10 p.m. after a search involving the US Coast Guard, New York and Perth Amboy police departments, police said.

CPR was performed on the boy at the scene before he was transported to Hackensack Medical Center unconscious and in cardiac arrest, police said.

A 30-year-old had earlier tried to rescue the teen as he struggled to get to shore but was unsuccessful, according to a US Coast Guard spokesman.

Police were then called and the agencies responded around 2:13 p.m. with multiple boats and helicopters.