Boaters rescued when craft hits river rocks in Norwich

Norwich — Fire, police and ambulance crews put night water rescue training to use late Friday, when a boat with six passengers hit a rock, flinging two passengers overboard and causing five injuries.

Norwich Fire Chief Kenneth Scandariato said the boat struck and went over the rocks and ended up lodged on the rocks in the Thames River off Harding Street. Five passengers were injured, several of whom were taken by ambulance to The William W. Backus Hospital. None of the injuries were life-threatening, according to state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency spokesman Dennis Schain. DEEP Environmental Conservation officers assisted with the rescue. Names and conditions of the victims were not available Monday.

Schain said the 22- foot vessel had a small cabin and appeared to be operating outside the navigation channel.

Scandariato said the accident occurred in a very difficult area of the river— inwater too shallow for a boat and too deep for rescuers to walk into the water. Two Norwich Fire Department boats and the Norwich police boat were used in the rescue and crews from DEEP, the Norwich Fire Department, East Great Plain Volunteer Fire Department, Norwich Police Department, American Ambulance, and

the Coast Guard responded. Crews from the Taftville and Laurel Hill volunteer departments were on standby to cover other calls during the rescue, Scandariato said.

The rescue effort took more than an hour, Scandariato said.

“We’ve been practicing night drills on the water, and it really paid off,” Scandariato said. “They really did a great job rescuing the people. It was a technical rescue. Everything we’ve been preparing for actually came through that night.”

DEEP is investigating the accident and no one has been charged, Schain said.