A 5-year-old girl was rescued from a lake in Newark, New Jersey, after bystanders and police officers rushed into action to prevent a near-drowning, authorities said.
The child was at Branch Brook Park on Sunday afternoon when she fell into the water near a boathouse in the park’s southern section, according to the Essex County Sheriff’s Office.
Witnesses and officers already in the area quickly moved to pull the young girl from the lake, officials said.
She was conscious and breathing when rescuers got her out of the water. Emergency medical crews then transported her to University Hospital in Newark for treatment, authorities said.
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Investigators said the girl apparently wandered away and entered the lake while her grandfather was securing one of her siblings in the family’s vehicle.
The rescue came just days after two other children in New Jersey drowned in the nearby Passaic River.
In that incident, a 10-year-old boy, his 11-year-old sister and a 10-year-old female friend went into the water near Pulaski Park on Wednesday. The boy and the friend died, WABC reported.
