A father and child were rescued Monday on the Cambridge side of the Charles River by a bright orange duck boat.
The call of “a father and a baby in the water” at 40 Edwin H. Land Blvd., East Cambridge, came through at 9:20 a.m., after the 18-month-old child squeezed through the railing on the Dr. Paul Dudley Bike Path and fell into the Charles. The child’s father jumped over the railing and held the baby above water while holding onto a rock ledge, according to State Police.
Officers arrived on the scene within minutes, but were told that a Boston Duck Tour boat already in the water would help in the rescue with a life ring. By 9:25 a.m., the father and baby were safely on the duck boat with the help of its crew.
The duck boat docked at the Charlesgate Yacht Club, where ambulances would be available to provide medical attention. Cambridge firefighters treated the father and child – guests at the nearby Royal Sonesta hotel – at the scene alongside Pro EMS before taking them to a medical facility, according to Cambridge firefighters.
The medical transport was precautionary, State Police said, and what led to the water rescue “remains under investigation by State Police Boston Barracks personnel.”
The duck boat, christened “Olga Ironsides” in 2004, was in the area performing person-overboard training at the time of the water rescue. The boat departs from the Museum of Science, which is less than five minutes away from where the rescue took place.
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