Mistaken Report Leads to Search of Hoosic River in North Adams

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Emergency responders spent about an hour searching the Hoosic River along State Road on Wednesday before determining that a report of two youngsters in the river was unfounded.

City and Williamstown police and firefighters, as well as North Adams Ambulance personnel, searched the riverside Wednesday beginning at about noon.

But the juveniles they were looking for turned out to be two people in a raft who were fishing.

"Through the investigation, NAPD located the two individuals that went in from the flood chute and they were in that location at that time," Fire Director Stephen Meranti said. "They confused [the caller] because they were bracing themselves against the wall."

Meranti said the call came in from the Greylock Club after a motorist said she saw the two people while driving into the city from the west.

"She could see the concrete flood chute behind them," he said. "We were sure that's where pretty much these guys went into the river."

Meranti said police officers eventually located the raft and the two people said they were in the area at the time.

Emergency service personnel walked the river bank and asked people along the bank if they saw anything. No one reported any sightings of children in the flood chute.

A command center was set up at Holy Family Terrace and the investigation lasted nearly an hour.

"You just have to make sure," Meranti said. "You have people in the area, and you have vehicles in the area with tracks going down to the river and no tracks coming out . … We just have to be thorough and it was a collaborative effort."