Police in Norwalk, Connecticut, helped save two people from a sinking 48-foot boat on Saturday and another three whose canoe sunk Sunday.
Saturday’s rescue occurred when the Norwalk Police Department responded to the sinking 48-foot boat between Raton Point and Greens Ledge, the NPD announced in a Facebook post. The two people on board abandoned the vessel and hopped onto a passing boat before being taken to shore by the NPD Marine Unit.
The vessel sunk to a depth of 20-feet, and the boat-towing service Sea Tow was “working to recover the vessel,” the NPD said.
Norwalk Fire Department Lt. Scott Rywalt told News 12 Connecticut that “all of the sudden, it started taking on water, and there was black smoke” before the boat eventually sank.
“A lousy way to start your boating season with an incident like that,” he noted.
The next day, the NPD marine unit was at it again, rescuing three individuals from a capsized canoe near Calf Pasture Beach after helping a local nonprofit clean up on Sheffield Island. None of the canoe occupants were injured, and the canoe sunk.
Rywalt told News 12 that people with little to no boating experience are urged to take a “safe boating course” before manning a vessel on a body of water. He also encouraged those who plan to go canoeing and are inexperienced to head out on the water with a companion who knows what they are doing.