Boston Herald
(TNS)
A Boston Duck Tours boat rescued a father and his young son clinging to rocks in the Charles River early Monday morning, officials reported.
Early Monday, a boy under the age of 2 managed to squeeze between the railing behind the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge and tumble into the Charles below, Massachusetts State Police stated. His father reportedly jumped in after him.
Photos, credited to local photographer Dominic Demasi, show the father clinging to rocks on the side of the river with one arm, while holding his child up with the other.
Two captains on a Duck Boat — one of the many noted Boston tour vehicles that take visitors through the city on the land and in the river — spotted the pair there while in the Charles on a quarterly safety drill.
“This is crazy,” Duck Boat Captain Michael Rosario recounted to reporters Monday. “This is happening while we’re doing training. Now we’re doing real-life rescue.”
Rosario told NBC 10 he and other captain Kevin O’Neil got to work and tossed a ring to the pair below, before maneuvering to lower a ladder and bringing them aboard. The captains, who said they were performing “man overboard training” just before, gave the father and son a blanket and brought them to waiting first responders on the shore.
The Cambridge Fire Department reported around 9:30 a.m. they responded to the river in the area of 40 Land Blvd. with Cambridge Police and State Police. The department said the child was brought to the hospital as a precaution.
“A child & adult have been rescued from the water by a @BostonDuckTours boat & are being EMS evaluated by Squad 3, Division 1, & @ProEMSCambridge PM 1,” Cambridge Fire posted.
Director of marketing for Boston Duck Tours Tom Vigna told reporters the team was “happy to be in the right place at the right time.”
©2024 MediaNews Group, Inc. Visit at bostonherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
