NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (AP) — Authorities say two boaters were about two miles from the brink of Niagara Falls when they were rescued from their disabled vessel by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter.

Coast Guard officials say their Buffalo station received a call around 9:15 p.m. Monday reporting a 19-foot motor boat with two men aboard was anchored in the Niagara River about 2,000 feet inside the 2.5-mile exclusion zone from the falls.

A crew from the Coast Guard air station in Detroit was dispatched to the scene, along with a Coast Guard vessel from Buffalo and boat crews from state and local police.

The river’s shallow depth prevented the vessels from reaching the anchored boat. A Coast Guard helicopter rescued the two boaters shortly before midnight.

The boat remains on the river. The owner is arranging salvage with a commercial service company.

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