A passing boat owned by Boston Duck Tours rescued a father and his nearly two-year-old son Monday morning from Massachusetts’s Charles River, ABC News reported, citing local officials.
The very young child fell into the river when he “squeezed through the railing” behind a hotel, the outlet reported, citing Massachusetts State Police. The father then jumped into the river to save his son, police said.
A passing Boston Duck Tours boat rescued the two and dropped them off at a dock close by, ABC News reported. The child was taken to the hospital out of caution.
The co-captains told WCVB that they realized something was wrong when people waved at them for help.
A father and his young child are very thankful for Boston’s famous duck boats after being rescued Monday morning following a fall into the Charles River, officials said. https://t.co/eJqMoNE3Bw pic.twitter.com/rSoK03nspb
— ABC News (@ABC) August 20, 2024
“I heard some people screaming,” Dominic Demasi, a witness, told the outlet. “The duck boat happened to be within 50 feet and they just went right over, helped them out.” (RELATED: Two Rescued After ‘Personal Watercraft Explosion:’ REPORT)
Cindy Brown, the CEO of Boston Duck Tours, praised the boat’s co-captains, Michael Rosario and Kevin O’Neill, on social media.
“Mike and Kevin have been outstanding team members at Boston Duck Tours for many years. I’m thankful that the training they have received, along with very lucky timing, put them in a position to help save this father and child,” she wrote. “I could not be prouder of their quick thinking and smart actions.”
Boston Duck Tours was founded in 1994, according to the company’s website. The company says that safety is their “top priority on the road, on the Charles River and in” its “daily operations.”
Duck boats are based on World War II-era amphibious DUKW vehicles that were used to transport military supplies. Duck tours used refurbished DUKW vehicles following the war for private tours and many such tours are independently owned and operated.
Some safety advocates have criticized the boats as not safe due to several fatal accidents.
“Duck boats are death traps,” Andrew Duffy, an attorney whose Philadelphia law firm handled litigation related to two fatal accidents involving duck boats, told The Associated Press in 2018.
An Indianapolis family reached a settlement in 2019 with a duck tour company in Missouri after an accident cost the lives of 17 people, Fox 59 reported.
Similarly, families reached a $17 million settlement with a duck tour company based in Philadelphia back in 2012 after their two Hungarian relatives perished due to an accident on the Delaware River, CNN reported.
“Thirty-three years we’ve been in this business, Ride the Ducks, and we’ve never had so much as a wet shoelace before this tragedy,” said President Chris Herschend of Ride the Ducks in Philadelphia, CNN reported in 2010.
