By Larry Mcshane
This rescue was a matter of life and death. A 6-year-old girl was pulled to safety by boaters in an upstate lake after the child was spotted bobbing in the water while clutching a corpse, police said.
The woman was later identified as 59-year-old Pamela Kaner of Brewster, N.Y. Kaner was apparently babysitting the girl while her mother ran an errand, the Journal News reported.
The unidentified girl was rushed to a local hospital Monday evening after she was saved from Lake Gleneida in Carmel, according to the Journal News.
She was spotted several hundred feet offshore by three people out fishing in a rowboat. The trio initially believed the girl was holding onto a large plastic bag — and only discovered the grim reality when they rowed to her rescue, the newspaper reported.
Authorities believe the 6-year-old and Kaner were wading in the lake shortly before the tragedy.
An autopsy was planned, although Carmel police Sgt. John Dearman said authorities believe the death was accidental.
The little girl was physically uninjured despite the traumatic circumstances.
Carter Strickland, of the Carmel Departmen of Environmental Protection, said they were “saddened by the tragedy that occurred last night on Lake Gleneida, and are working with Carmel Police to determine what happened. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.”