10-year-old boy safe after being rescued from Androscoggin River
A 10-year-old boy is back home safe after a coordinated water rescue pulled him from a rocky outcropping in the middle of the Androscoggin River in Turner on Saturday night.
The call came in to the Androscoggin Regional Communications Center shortly after 8:15 p.m., according to the Androscoggin County Sheriff's Office. The boy's father reported that his son had entered the river near Hawes Corner Road and been carried downstream by the current before becoming stranded on a cluster of rocks.
Deputies arrived on scene quickly and called out to the boy, instructing him to stay put and not move while rescue crews mobilized. Turner Fire and Rescue and the Greene Fire Department launched a water rescue operation, with the Livermore Fire Department also responding to assist.
Lt. Cameron Lebel of Turner Fire and Rescue took the lead, piloting a rescue boat belonging to the Greene Fire Department across the fast-moving water. Firefighter Chris Bellefleur, also of Turner Fire and Rescue, supported the effort. Lebel reached the boy, secured him and brought him safely back to shore.
Once on dry land, Turner Rescue personnel evaluated the child and confirmed he had not been injured.
The Sheriff's Office commended the deputies, firefighters and dispatchers involved for their rapid response, noting that the outcome could have been very different without the quick coordination between agencies. The office also used the incident to urge the public to exercise caution around Maine's rivers, which can look deceptively calm on the surface even as strong currents move just below.
