Car plunges into water near Liberty State Park, killing young NJ man celebrating New Year's

Maria Pych, right, and her daughter Bernadette Pych, 17, mourn near the scene where Maria's son, Mark Pych, 22, was killed earlier in the day when the car he was allegedly driving plunged into the Morris Canal at Liberty Harbor in Jersey City, N.J., Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014. The body of the driver was recovered shortly after authorities responded to the scene of the crash, which was reported around 3:30 a.m. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) (The Associated Press)

Workers in dive gear, bottom right, work the scene while trying to recover a vehicle that was allegedly driven into the Morris Canal at Liberty Harbor in Jersey City, N.J., Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014. The body of the 22-year-old driver was recovered shortly after authorities responded to the scene of the crash, which was reported around 3:30 a.m. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) (The Associated Press)

Workers pull a vehicle out of the Morris Canal at Liberty Harbor in Jersey City, N.J., where a man was killed when the vehicle he was allegedly driving drove through a metal barricade and into the water, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014. The 22-year-old man's body was recovered shortly after authorities responded to the scene of the crash, which was reported around 3:30 a.m. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) (The Associated Press)

Authorities say a car has plunged into the water near Liberty State Park, killing a 22-year-old New Jersey man out celebrating New Year's.

The crash was reported at about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Morris Canal in Jersey City near the park overlooking the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

The New York Police Department's dive team found the body of Mark Pych (pyk) a short time later. His family told The Jersey Journal that the recent Rutgers-Newark graduate had planned to meet his friends at a nearby restaurant.

Jersey City police and fire spokesman Bob McHugh told the newspaper that Pych's car drove through barricades blocking the road. A crane was used to lift the car from the water.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.