A Massachusetts mother died frantically trying to save her young son, who had fallen into a river and been swept away by the current on a tragic family fishing trip, police said.
State police and other authorities were still searching the Merrimack River on Friday for the 6-year-old boy, who fell into Deer Island water on Thursday night while searching for something, reports said.
A family of six had been fishing and swimming in the river in Newburyport when their 31-year-old father left the group to catch something in the car, according to NBC Boston.
The boy fell near the Whittier Bridge, and his mother and a 7-year-old sister followed him in an apparent attempt to save him, but were also dragged off the coast, police told the television network. The father ran out of the car and also jumped into the water, but struggling with the current, returned to shore, according to the report.
Authorities were still searching for the boy in the river on Friday. WBTS The mother could not get on a fishing boat that came to her and her daughter’s rescue. WBTS
A captain of a fishing boat saw the mother and the girl fighting in the river and came to help, with the mother helping her daughter to get on the boat before she fell below the surface, unable to get on board, they said officials.
When she was taken on board, she was given CPR, but did not respond and was later pronounced dead at Anna Jaques Hospital, according to authorities.
The woman’s identity is not revealed pending family notification, Newburyport Mayor Sean Reardon wrote on her blog.
On Friday, divers and a helicopter helped search for the boy, according to Massachusetts state police.
With post cables