Arr-Mac rescues man after spill from canoe
By Staff Reports
Published in News on May 28, 2010 1:46 PM
Water rescue workers retrieved a man who fell from a canoe in the Neuse River and was stranded in the current, hanging onto limbs along the river's edge.
Arrington Fire Chief Randy Rogers also works with the Arr-Mac Water Response Team, a partnership between his department and the Mar-Mac Volunteer Fire Department.
Rogers said the departments got an emergency call that a boat had capsized around 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
When firefighters and other rescue workers arrived, however, they learned the 30-year-old man had fallen out of the canoe.
"He kind of panicked a little bit," Rogers said. "He was hanging onto some limbs in the current."
Rescue divers -- in this case, rescue swimmers -- went in the river, near the U.S. 117 bridge. Rogers said they had the man, who was not named, out in about 15 minutes.
"The swimmers went in and helped him over to the boat. Then, the second boat went and ... towed their canoe in," Rogers said.