A crew member working on a fuel barge in Staten Island's Kill Van Kull Strait somehow fell between his ship and another early Thursday, prompting an intense rescue effort that ultimately failed, officials say.
NYPD and FDNY responded to the Kill Van Kull Channel, a tidal strait between Richmond Terrace and Bayonne, New Jersey, after getting a report about the man's fall shortly after 6 a.m.
Police divers managed to pull the man from the water -- and Chopper 4 was overhead as the NYPD boat raced back to shore with the victim. Footage showed a flurry of activity around him as crews pulled the man off the boat and onto a stretcher, where EMS personnel took over and transported him to a hospital for possible cardiac arrest.
He was pronounced dead at a hospital later in the day.
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The investigation is ongoing.
