Scarborough’s marine resource officer found himself in the right place at the right time Monday, as he rescued four kayakers whose boats had capsized or become trapped against pilings in a powerful river current.

Marine Resource Officer Dave Corbeau was taking water samples from his boat, Marine4, on the Nonesuch River when he noticed two kayakers who were struggling against the current and being sucked toward a railroad trestle. Several large pilings were under the trestle, the tide was high, and the current was running at 17 knots.

“That made for a very dangerous situation,” said Jaime Higgins, the Scarborough Police Department’s crime analyst, in a post on the department’s Facebook page.

Corbeau positioned his boat against the pilings, then one of the kayaks overturned and got pinned against a piling. Corbeau pulled both people into his boat. That is when he discovered two more kayakers whose boats had become pinned against the pilings.

Higgins said Corbeau pushed the kayakers away from the trestle with a long pole, and they continued upriver. All of the kayakers made it to safety and were not injured.

“Sometimes we can be in the right place at the right time,” Higgins said. “We are happy to report that although this was a scary situation for all involved, no one was injured, and the (town) boat received only minor damages.”