SWAMPSCOTT, Mass. — A 5-year-old girl was rescued at a Swampscott beach after being blown off shore while on a small raft, police said in a statement.
The incident occurred shortly before 3 p.m. Tuesday off Preston Beach, Marblehead Police said in a statement on Facebook.
Sky25 captured video showing first responders on scene following the girl’s rescue.
“The winds picked up quite a bit and blew her, [a] pretty small child, and the raft without any kind of personal floatation device out a distance – a significant distance off shore,” said Swampscott Police Assistant Harbormaster Brandan Reen,
Police received multiple emergency calls about a very young child, alone in an orange raft, being blown off shore by the west/northwest wind.
Adults on shore attempted to reach her but were unsuccessful. Reen says her father tired to swim out to her, but couldn’t reach her. When he knew he couldn’t reach her, he told her to stay in the raft no matter what.
“It was a pretty harrowing thing for her, she told me she cried initially when she first, but the last thing she said her dad told her was to stay in the boat and that’s a great reminder for us all to exercise caution and safety when we’re near the water,” said Reen.
Police from both Marblehead and Swampscott responded along with Harbormaster patrol boats from both communities.
“With an officer on the beach vectoring the rescue boats into the area, the child was rescued unharmed and the father who was in a separate raft trying to reach her, was also picked up,” police said.
Father and daughter were taken to the pier at the Swampscott Fish House for evaluation by crews from Atlantic Ambulance Service that were awaiting their arrival. Both were unharmed, police said.
Police warned other beach goers about the dangers of being near the ocean.
“There are still many weeks of beach weather ahead before the end of the summer season. This is a good reminder that the ocean can be an unforgiving place and things can happen quickly,” police said.
Reen says when they finally reached the girl by boat, she was several hundred yards offshore.
“It looked like there was nobody in the raft at all and as we got closer we saw this little girl with brown hair,” said Reen.
Police said this is a great reminder of how quickly things can take a turn on the water.
“Unfortunately it’s happening more and more, a lot of flotation devices these days, kayaks, paddle boards, people get overtaken, when the winds come like this and they go off shore,” said Swampscott Harbormaster Lieutenant Bill Waters. “I’m sure the little girl was close to shore and then all of a sudden, a gust and she’s gone.”
Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for alerts on breaking news stories like this one.
Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter.