College Crew Team Athletes Taken to Hospital After Boat Capsizes Due to Weather Shift

More than a dozen New York City college students were taken to the hospital after their row boat capsized in Eastchester Bay.

According to the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), athletes, staff and other students with Fordham University’s men’s club rowing team were out on the water just off of City Island in the Bronx on Saturday afternoon, April 5, when their boat capsized.

The FDNY told PEOPLE that first responders were dispatched to the scene after a witness called 911 at around 12:15 p.m. local time, and a civilian boat helped to bring all 19 people — including nine athletes, eight additional students and two coaches — aboard the two vessels to shore at the nearby peninsula of Rodman’s Neck.

“Fordham can confirm that nine members of the men’s club rowing team were pulled from the water after their boat capsized due to a sudden shift in weather conditions on Eastchester Bay,” Fordham University told PEOPLE in a statement.

“New York City regulations required that the nine student-athletes, and the eight additional students and two coaches who helped them, be taken to area hospitals for examination because the party came ashore on city property at Rodman’s Neck,” the university added. “There were no injuries, and all of the individuals involved were examined and released.

According to Accuweather, New York City experienced cloudy weather and rain earlier on April 5.

The NYPD Emergency Service Unit and the NYPD Harbor Unit also responded to the incident, local outlet PIX 11 reported.

Fordham added to PEOPLE that they lost one row boat in the incident.

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According to the team’s website, Fordham crew teams train in the Long Island Sound, Eastchester Bay and Hutchinson River, as well as at the Harlem Yacht Club in City Island, located about four miles away from the school’s campus.

A similar incident in N.Y.C. turned deadly earlier this year after officials were notified on Feb. 23 about a boat taking on water near Breezy Point, a neighborhood at the tip of Queens’ Rockaway peninsula, the Coast Guard previously said. Five people were recovered at the scene, and four died, the agency reported.

According to New York State Parks, all boats traveling in New York waterways have to carry a U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket of the proper size for each passenger onboard. Good safety practices include not overcrowding boats, carrying sound safety devices such as whistles and air horns and requiring all rowers to pass a swimming test.