A woman was rescued early Thursday morning after she fell off of the Glen Cove Yacht Club's pier, according to the Glen Cove Police Department.
Bhavana Malhota, 30, of Jericho, told police she had been leaning on a railing while talking on her cell phone when she lost her balance and fell into the water. Not knowing how to swim, she managed to stay afloat by grabbing a buoy floating nearby.
That is where rescue workers from the Glen Cove Volunteer Fire Department, EMS and Glen Cove police found her at 12:30 a.m. after receiving a 911 call from a woman who was with Malhota. Police said Malhota told them she was cold and weak from trying to stay above water, which police estimated was for 20 minutes or so.
Responders lowered a nearby dinghy and threw Malhota a rope attached to it, but police said she was too weak to pull the boat to her.
Emergency medical services chief Matt Venturino and police officer Frank Pallone manned the dinghy and were able to pull Malhota into the boat.
That's when, disoriented after being submerged in the 50 degree water, police said, Malhota stood up and the dinghy capsized. All three were thrown into the water.
The two men pulled Malhota to the pier, where an ambulance took her to the hospital for possible hypothermia.
Venturino and Pallone were cold and wet, police said, but unharmed.
