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July 14, 2012

Camper, 7, OK after nearly drowning

The Cape Elizabeth boy will return to camp Monday after the incident in Scarborough.

By David Hench dhench@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

SCARBOROUGH — A 7-year-old Cape Elizabeth boy who authorities say nearly drowned Thursday in Scarborough before being resuscitated by a lifeguard has been released from the hospital and is set to return to camp next week.

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The boy was among 113 children from the Cape Elizabeth Community Services day camp who went to the Wassamki Springs campground on Saco Street for a field trip.

He was swimming in the campground’s man-made pond and apparently went under the water. Other children and adults pulled the boy from the water, and the mother of one of the children brought him to one of the day camp’s lifeguards, who gave him cardiopulmonary resuscitation to revive him, authorities say.

The boy was hospitalized in serious condition in Maine Medical Center’s intensive care unit Thursday night. By Friday afternoon, he had returned home and was doing fine, said Pauline Aportria, business manager for the Cape Elizabeth School Department, which runs Community Services.

“The young boy is fine,” Aportria said. “He’s feeling fine. ... He will be back at camp on Monday.”

The boy stayed overnight in the hospital for observation, she said.

Neither police nor Aportria would release the name of the child or the lifeguard.

The day camp sent seven camp counselors and five lifeguards from the town’s swimming pool to accompany the campers on Thursday’s field trip, she said.

A woman who answered the telephone at Wassamki Springs on Friday said the business had no comment about the incident.

Staff Writer David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or at:

dhench@pressherald.com

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