MONROE — A 52-year-old woman was airlifted by LifeFlight to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield Sunday afternoon following a Zoar Outdoor rafting accident.
The call for paramedics went out around 1:30 p.m. after the woman fell from a raft. She was sucked underwater and was initially unconscious, according to police.
Rowe Police Chief Julie Shippee was the first to respond to the Trail Head Picnic Area on River Road, where the woman and her family had emerged from the water.
“When I got there, they had her out of the water,” Shippee said. Because the woman’s family members had medical backgrounds, Shippee said the situation was under control, but the woman suffered from fluid in her lungs.
The Monroe Volunteer Fire Department responded. The woman was transported in a North Adams ambulance to Hawlemont Regional Elementary School in Charlemont, where a LifeFlight helicopter was able to land at around 2:50 p.m. The helicopter transported her to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield.
The Charlemont police and fire departments assisted to secure the landing area.
Zoar Outdoor Co-Owner Karen Blom said late Sunday that the woman is being observed overnight at the hospital. No further information was available about the woman’s identity or condition.