By Mara H. Gottfried
The St. Paul Pioneer Press
ST. PAUL, Minn. — St. Paul firefighters this afternoon rescued a couple who had been swimming in the Mississippi River downtown and were having trouble getting back to land.
The fire department was called at 2:15 p.m. The firefighters went to the railroad trestle between the Robert and Wabasha bridges and dropped a safety rope and life vests for the two adults until the department’s boat arrived, said Fire Marshal Steve Zaccard.
Paramedics checked the swimmers on the scene and found they were uninjured, Zaccard said.
“It was a happy ending,” he said. “They were safely rescued from the river.”
The man and woman were part of a group swimming off the tip of Raspberry Island, which is posted with “no swimming” signs, said Zaccard, according to information he received from the St. Paul Parks and Recreation Department.
The woman was reportedly unable to get to swim back to land because of high currents and the man stayed with her, Zaccard said.
Saint Paul firefighters rescue two swimmers who were stranded beneath a railroad trestle in the Mississippi River.
Copyright 2010 St. Paul Pioneer Press
All Rights Reserved