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Man dies trying to save girl in water
The girl suffered no serious injuries, but her would-be rescuer did not survive a fall onto the rocks.
01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, July 18, 2006
BY RANDAL EDGAR
Journal Staff Writer
NARRAGANSETT -- A 48-year-old man who went into the water to save an 11-year-old girl died yesterday after he slipped and hit his head on rocks and landed face-down in the water, the police and firefighters said.
The girl, who suffered no serious injuries, had slipped and fallen into the water along a scenic but treacherous stretch of cliffs and rocks near Newton Avenue.
The man went after her but slipped and hit the back of his head, Fire Chief James J. Cotter said. He tried to swim a few strokes and then stopped, floating face down in the water.
The police found the girl about 30 feet from shore and were able to get a life ring to her, Police Chief J. David Smith said. One officer helped her in the water while a team of officers and firefighters, some in the water and some on shore, pulled her to safety, he said.
The man was 75 to 100 yards from shore and had to be rescued by two firefighters wearing survival suits, with firefighters and police officers pulling them to shore, Cotter said.
The man and the girl were taken to South County Hospital, in South Kingstown. Their names were not released last night. The man was unresponsive when pulled from the water, while the girl was "banged up and cold" but was "conscious and alert," Smith said.
The accident happened along cliffs and rocks that run from Hazard Avenue past Newton Avenue. With weather-worn rocks and pounding waves, it is a beautiful spot that brings a sense of seclusion, but it is also a dangerous place for people who venture too far down toward the water.
"It's definitely not a swimming area," Cotter said. "People have to be made aware of that."
Narragansett resident Ann Hohman, who visited the spot yesterday to take a picture of her nephew's family, recalled her first visit there, with her husband 31 years ago. They were standing on a rock near the water and "a rogue wave went over us," she said.
"We were lucky to be alive," said Hohman, a member of Narragansett's School Committee.
Hohman said she and her husband came back many times to have their picture taken but never ventured close to the water again.
"And we didn't spent too much time here," she said.
Smith said the police and firefighters responded at 3:01 p.m. when a 911 caller reported two people in the water off Bass Rock Road. Officers and firefighters found nothing at Bass Rock Road; meanwhile, a second caller reported the people were off nearby Newton Avenue.
The rocky area has been the site of at least one drowning and nine rescues since 1984. One of the more recent incidents was in 1999, when a 22-year-old Woonsocket man slid off a rock and drowned.
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