Two Men in Critical Condition After Canoe Overturns in Smithtown Bay

Two men are in critical, but stable condition at the hospital after their canoe overturned in Smithtown Bay Sunday afternoon, police said. 

Two good Samaritans who were on the upper ramp of the Kings Park Bluff, located at Old Dock Road, observed the canoe overturning and the men falling into the water around 3:30 p.m., police said.   

One of the samaritans ran down to the lower parking area and alerted Smithtown Public Safety Park Rangers Sergeant Joseph Cornetta, police said. 

Smithtown Public Safety Senior Bay Constable, Sergeant Nicholas Balducci and officer David Rosenberg, located one victim who was in the water north of the pavilion at Sunken Meadows State Park. The victim, a 22-year-old from Nesconset, had been in the water, which was approximately 48 degrees, for about 20 minutes, police said. 

Aviation Section Officers responded and located a backpack in the water approximately one mile northwest from where there first victim was found. Marine Bureau officers in Marine Bureau Delta then found the second victim, a 25-year-old from Hauppauge, near the backpack and the canoe.  He had been in the water approximately 45 minutes, police said. 

Both men–whose names were not released by police–were transported by King Park Fire Department Rescue to St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown, where they are being treated for hypothermia, cuts and abrasions.