Alex Arger
Mom drowns after trying to save 10-year-old son who fell in waterfall
A Massachusetts family has lost its matriarch after a tragic trip to a hiking destination.
LEARN MOREPosted: 7:08 p.m. EDT Aug 21, 2023
Another person has died after a family outing to a New Hampshire water destination — the second to die trying to rescue others and the third overall to drown in the state within the last week.
The most recent tragedy happened Sunday afternoon on the Swift River in Albany, New Hampshire. Police said 37-year-old Vincent Parr of Lawrence, Massachusetts, was visiting the scenic location with his family when his wife and one of her kids became stuck in a fast-moving stretch of water. He jumped in the water to try to rescue them, but he ultimately became trapped in the river's current, too.
The mother and child were able to get to shore, while bystanders tried to help bring Parr there. He was ultimately pronounced deceased after CPR failed to revive him.
A GoFundMe raising money for Parr's funeral expenses says he was a "family man and had a pure heart of gold."
"He NEVER missed a holiday, birthday, or even a casual family get-together," the site reads. "He was the glue that held strong and always kept positive and logical no matter what situation was thrown at him or the rest of his family."
Almost all of the Swift River is located within the White Mountain National Forest, a destination known for its hikes and waterways, including Franconia Falls.
That's where just last week, about 20 miles away from where Parr drowned, a 44-year-old mom from Lynn, Massachusetts, drowned after jumping in to rescue her 10-year-old son, who had become stuck in a swift current.
And on Friday, another person drowned in a New Hampshire waterway. A man had been fishing in Canterbury, New Hampshire with his fiancée when their fishing canoe capsized. He had gone underwater while trying to turn it upright and never resurfaced. Once she located him in the pond, his fiancée pulled him to shore to perform CPR, but he was pronounced deceased when the medical examiner arrived.
