David Chang

Rowers Rescue Woman Trapped in Car in Schuylkill River

The woman was taken to Presbyterian Hospital where she is currently in stable condition.

A group of rowers rescued a woman after she was trapped in her car in the Schuylkill River Tuesday evening.

The 61-year-old woman was inside a vehicle that had crashed into the river near the 2300 block of Martin Luther King Drive at 5:18 p.m. in the Fairmount Park section of Philadelphia. Sean Hall, the President of the Penn Athletic Club Rowing Association, was in a motorized boat while two other rowers were in a different boat in the river when they saw the car in the water.

"I heard some people yelling or screaming or something," Hall said. "Nobody knows what that was or where it came from."

One of the rowers then dove into the water and pulled the woman out of the car.

"He jumped back in when he managed to reach inside and find her arm and pull her out that way," Hall said. "He handed me her arm, I pulled her out and got her onto the boat. And at that point she was not speaking."

Responding paramedics helped get the woman to land. They then performed CPR on her and took her to the hospital where she is now in stable condition.

Police say the car backed into the water though they're still working out the details regarding what led to the incident.

Hall said a rower from his club also saved a driver who was trapped in the river five years ago.

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