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Surfacing whale capsizes fishing boat off New Jersey

By Ben Hooper
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Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Police in New Jersey said two people were thrown into the water when a whale surfaced beneath their boat and capsized the vessel.

New Jersey State Police said in a Facebook post that the two people were fishing about a mile off Deal, Monmouth County, when a whale surfaced directly underneath their 20-foot boat.

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The boat flipped upside-down and its occupants were thrown into the water.

The two men, William Sobeck Jr., 64, and Jonathan Swingle, 64, were fished out of the water by witness Gary Szabo, a retired firefighter who was also out in his boat Thursday.

"And suddenly the great beast was before them! He was ten stories high if he was a foot!" police wrote, referencing a classic episode of Seinfeld.

Police said the men were not injured and the New Jersey State Marine Services Bureau is investigating the accident.

"Charges against the whale are pending its apprehension," police said.

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