Search for missing 6-year-old boy Mas DeChhat in Merrimack River continues
NEWBURYPORT - The search for a missing 6-year-old boy in the Merrimack River has continued on Saturday, two days after his mother, Boua DeChhat, drowned there. The boy was identified by police Saturday as Mas DeChhat.
The water search resumed at 8 a.m. after it was suspended early Friday night.
A family of six - a mother, father, two girls and two boys - drove to Deer Island Thursday and parked on the Newburyport side of the island to go fishing and swimming. At around 7 p.m., police say the father went to his car in the island's parking lot to get some gear for the family.
"At around the same time, Mas, who was on land at the water's edge, reached for a stick in the water. He fell in and began to be pulled away by the swift current," Massachusetts State Police spokesman Dave Procopio said in a statement Saturday.
Investigators say his 7-year-old sister tried to grab him, but she then fell in the water and was pulled by the current. Their mother, Boua, then went into the water to save them, despite not being known to swim.
"All three family members were carried upstream in a westerly direction toward the nearby Whittier Bridge. By this time, the father had returned to the water's edge, saw his daughter and wife in the water, and entered the water himself to try to reach them," Procopio said. "The father also was not a swimmer, could not reach his loved ones, and began to struggle himself. He made it back toward shore and grabbed a rock. He managed to exit the river and was transported to Seabrook Hospital for exposure/hypothermia."
Procopio added that the current swept the 29-year-old mother and her daughter under the Whittier Bridge and out into the river to the west of the bridge. A boater saw them struggling and pulled them up onto his boat.
Boua was rushed to Anna Jaques Hospital where she died. The 7-year-old daughter was released from the hospital.
The Coast Guard, along with divers, boats and helicopters, were all involved in the search for Mas late Thursday and most of Friday.
The search mission Saturday includes divers, along with four boat operators from the Massachusetts State Police Department's Marine unit.
Procopio said divers are using side scan sonar as part of their search.
"Divers are using sidescan sonar – a device deployed from the side of a boat which uses sound waves to map and detect objects and anomalies in the water column and on the bottom. If an object is detected, divers descend upon it to investigate."
The Merrimack River is known a popular spot for summer activities
