Maine crews use drone to rescue 2 boys from raging river
MECHANIC FALLS, Maine -- Officials in Maine have used a drone to deliver a lifejacket to a boy stranded on a rock in the middle of a raging river.
Two boys needed rescuing Tuesday afternoon after their tube overturned in the Little Androscoggin River. Only one was wearing a lifejacket.
Auburn Fire Chief Frank Roma told CBS affiliate WGME that before attempting a rescue, crews wanted to get a lifejacket to the boy without one.
Roma said they used a drone to get a line to the boys so they could pull the lifejacket to them.
"We wanted to make sure we got a life jacket on that second child so that if they did fall in the water we could catch them downstream," Roma told WGME.
With both boys safely in lifejackets, two rescuers paddled out to them. They rescued the younger boy first, then came back for the teenager.
The rescue was caught on camera by the drone, WGME reported.
"This was a tricky type of rescue when you have folks stuck in middle of river with this type of current," Poland Fire Chief Mark Bosse told the station.
Both boys were uninjured.
The Sun Journal first reported the rescue.