Massachusetts mom drowns trying to save 6-year-old from river

A Massachusetts mom died frantically trying to save her young son, who’d fallen into a river and had been swept away by the current on a tragic family fishing trip, cops said.

State police and other authorities were still searching the Merrimack River Friday for the 6-year-old boy, who fell into the water from Deer Island Thursday night while reaching for something, reports said.

A family of six had been fishing and swimming in the river in Newburyport when the 31-year-old father left the group to get something in the car, according to NBC Boston.

The boy fell in near the Whittier Bridge, and his mother and a 7-year-old sister followed in an apparent attempt to save him but they were also swept away from shore, police told the TV station. The father rushed back from the car and dove into the water as well, but struggling in the current, he came back to shore, the report said.

A fishing boat captain saw the mother and young girl struggling in the river and came to help – with the mom helping her daughter onto the boat before she dropped below the surface, unable to climb aboard, officials said.

When she was pulled aboard CPR was administered but she was unresponsive and was later pronounced dead at Anna Jaques Hospital, according to authorities.

The identity of the woman is not being released pending family notification, the Newburyport Mayor Sean Reardon wrote on his blog.

Divers and a helicopter were aiding in the search for the boy on Friday, according to the Massachusetts State Police.

With Post wires