Man rescued after clinging to overturned canoe for hours
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) - A river rescue was caught on camera in Philadelphia as two police officers were injured while trying to save a man who was clinging to an overturned canoe for hours.
The dangerous rescue unfolded on the Schuylkill River Wednesday morning.
In the video, a man can be seen clinging to his overturned canoe, desperate for help.
Witnesses called 911 at about 5 a.m. and said a man in his 60s was stuck under the rail bridge near the Roosevelt Expressway in East Falls and had already been there for an hour.
At points, he seemed to struggle to stay on top of that canoe thanks to the fast-moving current.
The situation was so dangerous, two officers were injured trying to get to the man after they slipped on rocks.
Video captured the moments the Philadelphia Marine Unit got to him. They were able to pull him to safety after nearly two hours of clinging to his boat.
The man was later taken to the hospital for treatment.
“So on a river like this, there’s lots of hazards,” Neil Goldman with the Philadelphia Canoe Club said.
Goldman said it’s always a good idea to wear a life jacket.
It’s a precaution all of his boaters take because, as one man learned Wednesday, the Schuylkill can be dangerous.
“With more rain, the river levels come up, which attracts more people, probably, but it also makes it much more dangerous,” Goldman said.
The rescued man was in stable condition but needed extra evaluations after being in cold water for hours.
No word on the extent of the officers’ injuries.
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