CAMBRIDGE, MASS. (WHDH) – Emergency crews responded in Cambridge Monday after a duck boat crew rescued a child and an adult from the Charles River, officials said.
Boston Duck Tours officials said ducks were in the river practicing safety routines when an operator spotted people in distress.
Officials said a toddler had fallen into the river. The child’s father then jumped in to help.
Boston Duck Tours said the pair were not associated with any ducks and said there were no public tours happening at the time of the rescue. Nevertheless, officials said staff helped pull the pair from the water.
The Cambridge Fire Department in a post on X near 9:30 a.m. said crews responded to the area of 40 Land Blvd.
The fire department did not share any additional information about how the toddler fell into the water but confirmed a Boston Duck Tours boat was involved in the rescue.
Cambridge fire officials said EMS crews evaluated the pair following their rescue. Cambridge police and Massachusetts State Police were also on scene.
State police said emergency crews brought the child to a local hospital as a precaution.
Cambridge Fire Department trucks were still parked near the river near 10:30 a.m. A Cambridge fire rescue boat was also spotted in the area.
Moments before 10:30 a.m., crews were seen pulling a stuffed animal from the water.
The duck boat driver and a narrator who was on the boat at the time of Monday’s rescue spoke to reporters about their experience, saying they sprang into action after they saw a crowd of people trying to get their attention from a dock on the Cambridge side of the Charles River.
The pair said they threw a life ring into the water and then used a ladder to pull the father and child aboard their boat, dubbed “Olga Ironsides.” The driver and narrator said they wrapped the child in a blanket because he was crying and cold. As they made their way to shore, they said the child’s father was thanking them profusely.
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