Boy in critical condition after falling in river, brother missing
A 9-year-old boy who fell into a Maine river along with his 5-year-old brother is in critical condition after being found, but the younger child remains missing.
The boys were playing along the Androscoggin River near a park in Auburn on Tuesday when one of them fell into the water. His brother tried to rescue him but also fell in.
Their father and 8-year-old sister tried to pull them out, but were unable as dozens of firefighters and police rushed to the scene. Rescuers were able to pull the older boy out later Tuesday night.
"A firefighter jumped into the water with scuba gear on, somehow they found a canoe somewhere and paddled out," Auburn nursing student Katie Levensailore told News Center Maine. "They found the body out there and they got him to shore, EMS got down there with a backboard and pulled him up."
Kevin and Victoria McBean were in their yard when they may have seen one of the boys in the river, according to the Sun Journal.
"We saw a shoe floating, the top of a shoe, a couple of inches out of the water," Victoria McBean told the newspaper. "It was the first one (we saw). It was in the middle of the water."
Authorities are scouring two miles of the river in hopes of finding the child, according to the Sun Journal.
People in the area were stunned that a small child could even get that close to the water.
"They should have already made a border so no one could get in the river," Auburn resident Charles Michaud told the newspaper. "This has happened before, so obviously it’s a problem."
With News Wire Services
