LETTER E TOWNSHIP – A young Connecticut boy who was rescued Tuesday after he went over two waterfalls at Smalls Falls had his condition upgraded to serious Wednesday at a Bangor hospital.
Zachary Larkin, who turns 3 on July 21, is off a ventilator and is “doing very well,” Mark Latti, spokesman for the Maine Warden Service, said Wednesday.
The child had no broken bones, he said, and was expected to be up and around by Wednesday night. Initially, he had been listed in critical condition.
The boy’s father, Tyler Bailey of New London, Conn., and his companion, Julie James, and two other young children were dangling their feet in the water at the upper pool at Smalls Falls, Latti said.
The adults had contact with each of the children, Latti said, and James was holding Zachary’s hand. Then Zachary slipped, went into the water and immediately was swept over the falls, Latti said.
Bailey jumped right down over the falls after him and started looking for his son, Latti said, but couldn’t find him. When the boy went over the second falls, Bailey followed him again and was able to find him that time.
Two Camp Winnebago counselors from Fayette were on an outing with a group of children at Smalls Falls, a popular tourist site just north of Madrid Township and south of Sandy River Plantation. They jumped in to help the father once they realized what was going on, Latti said.
They were followed by others, Latti said.
When found, the child wasn’t breathing initially, a warden and witnesses said Tuesday after the 2:20 p.m. accident.
The counselors, Tyler Warmack, 22, and Shavoyae Brown, 19, immediately started cardiopulmonary resuscitation, helped by a couple of teachers who also knew CPR, Latti said. The child started coughing after several rounds of CPR.
Rescuers from Franklin County and beyond had worked to bring the boy to shore. The boy was taken by a passing ambulance to an airport in Phillips, then flown by helicopter to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, where he was listed in serious condition Wednesday afternoon, a hospital spokeswoman said.
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