A rescue on the Charles River in Waltham Tuesday afternoon ended with one person suffering life-threatening injuries after being pulled from the water, officials say. The incident unfolded around 3:30 p.m. near a bridge over the river, drawing a swift emergency response as several people jumped in to help before everyone involved was brought to safety.
According to WHDH, a Waltham fire official said someone jumped into the Charles River off a bridge by Pine Street for unknown reasons, and that several other people then jumped into the river themselves to help the person who had gone in. The fire official said the rescue resulted in everyone involved being pulled from the water, though the conditions of those involved were not immediately known. Separately, as reported by Yahoo News, one person suffered life-threatening injuries after being pulled from the Charles River in Waltham Tuesday afternoon.
That person was transported to Newton Wellesley Hospital, officers told the outlet. The two accounts differ on the precise location of the incident: the fire official's account places it near a bridge by Pine Street, while Massachusetts State Police said they responded to a request for assistance from Waltham for a report of someone who jumped off the Moody Street Bridge. Neither account has been reconciled, and it remains unclear exactly how many people ultimately needed rescuing or what their conditions were.
Emergency Crews Respond to Mid-Afternoon Call
The initial report came in around 3:30 p.m., per the fire official's account relayed to the station. What began as a single report of someone entering the water quickly escalated as bystanders or companions jumped in themselves, according to the same account, before rescuers managed to pull everyone from the river.
Why the first person entered the Charles River has not been established, and the outlet's reporting does not identify who was hurt or confirm whether more than one person needed hospital care. Massachusetts State Police, as quoted in the Yahoo report, did not offer further detail beyond confirming their response to the Moody Street Bridge location.
Not the First River Rescue in the Area
Waltham has seen river emergencies before. In April 2018, two boaters were rescued from the Charles River in Waltham after their canoe capsized, the station reported at the time. More recently, a person was pulled from the Charles River near Science Park in Boston in May, when Boston fire responded to a nighttime call, according to a separate WHDH report.
Massachusetts has recorded between 40 and 50 unintentional drowning deaths annually in recent years, including 45 in 2023, 49 in 2024 and 42 in 2025, according to WCVB. State figures cited separately by Mass.gov note that 48 unintentional drowning deaths occurred among Massachusetts residents ages 18 and over in 2022. Those figures describe statewide trends and are not confirmation of how Tuesday's incident will ultimately be classified.
No further updates on the condition of the person taken to Newton Wellesley Hospital, or on anyone else who may have entered the water, had been released as of Tuesday evening.
