Boy swims across river, walks more than a mile for help after crash

FITCHBURG, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) – An 8-year-old Fitchburg boy is being credited with helping saving his father after their car crashed through a guardrail and landed upside down on a sandbar in the middle of a river.

Authorities say Eugenio Garcia, of Fitchburg, was trapped in the vehicle in the Nashua River after the crash, which occurred at about 3 a.m. Thursday.

But his son, 8-year-old Joshua, wriggled out the wreckage, waded through the rushing water, scaled an embankment, then walked more than a mile home to alert his mother, who called 911.

Garcia was rescued at about 3:30 a.m., then treated for minor injuries and released from a hospital.

Fire officials say if the car had landed in the water, both father and son likely would have died.

The crash remains under investigation.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Cox Media Group