No injuries were reported in Saturday's incident in Egg Harbor Township.
Sgt. Stephen Jones, a state police spokesman, says the boat's owners were taking it out for the first time when it got stuck on a mudflat in Risley Channel about an hour before low tide. Strong winds had blown the tide out to 2 feet below the normal low tide and the boat got caught in about 30 feet of mud.
Since the winds prevented them from using helicopters to reach the stranded passengers, authorities borrowed the hovercraft from a local fire department. The subsequent rescue operation took about 90 minutes to complete.
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Information from: The Press of Atlantic City, http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com
