Water Rescue Off Sakonnet Point: Coast Guard

LITTLE COMPTON, RI—Two men and a 12-year-old boy escaped injury Saturday afternoon when their 22-foot pleasure boat capsized off Sakonnet Point. According to the Coast Guard Command Duty Ofc. Scott Backholm, the three were stranded on East Island, one of the small rocky islands near the Point, when one of the adults swam to Sakonnet Point. The Coast Guard received a 9-11 call around 5 p.m. from the child's mother (and husband of one of the accident victims). She was concerned that the boy and other adult would also attempt to swim to Sakonnet Point.

The Coast Guard sent a 45-foor rescue boat from Station Castle Hill, but the boat couldn't get close enough to East Island due to the rocks. But Middletown's swimmer was able to reach them. The Middletown and Little Compton fire departments also responded as part of the Narragansett Bay Task Force, he said. A rescue swimmer from the Middletown Fire Department took the 12-year-old and the other adult to the Middletown Fire Department's boat. From there, they went to Sakonnet Harbor where medics evaluated them.

The vessel, a Cuddy cabin, is overturned but at anchor, he said. The owner will arrange for the salvage on Sunday.

The reason the boat capsized is not known, he said.