Boat Towing Kayak Sinks; 3 Rescued

Two Warren men, both 23, and a Cranston woman, 29, refused medical treatment Sunday evening after a 14-foot boat sank in Narragansett Bay off Rumstick Point.

“The parties swam to shore as our Rescue Boat arrived at the sunken vessel,” said Barrington Fire Lt. Jason Fanion.

The two Warren men in the boat apparently attempted to tow the distressed woman to shore in her kayak, Lt. Fanion said.

“We got a 911 call Sunday night at 7 pm for a kayaker in distress and people in the water,” he said.  “911 was able to ‘ping’ the caller’s cell phone and we were given coordinates for our GPS, which put the caller 300 feet off Barrington Beach." 

“We responded as part of the Narragansett Bay Marine Task Force (Barrington, Warren, Bristol, Warwick and Providence),” Fanion said. “Our Marine 1 arrived on scene and found a 14-foot boat that had sunk.”

“It turns out that a kayaker was paddling from Warwick across the Bay and got in rough water,” Fanion said.  “A nearby boat went to assist the kayaker when the vessel began taking on water and sank, sending two people into the water."

Fanion said EMTs in Rescue 1 went to the rear of a home at 343 Rumstick Road and evaluated the victims for possible hypothermia.  The two people on the boat were in the water over an hour and the kayaker paddled to Rumstick.  

“All parties involved refused medical treatment and were okay,” he said. “We called the Coast Guard to the sunken vessel to retrieve it.”

The boat apparently had a full 12-gallon tank of gasoline. It was described as a vintage 1984 vessel.