Distant cry leads to water rescue in South Boston

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

A Massachusetts Port Authority police lieutenant heard a distant cry for help while patrolling the South Boston waterfront early this morning and helped rescue a 56-year-old fisherman who had fallen some 15 feet off a pier and was clinging to a pylon in the harbor.

Lieutenant Jim Flaherty was patrolling Conley Terminal at 4:30 a.m. in a blue, unmarked car when he rolled down his window and heard a faint cry above the squawking seagulls and creaking wooden piers.

"There's a lot of noise going on down there on a quiet night," said Flaherty, who has patrolled the waterfront as a Massport police officer for 28 years. "Every now and then I could just hear something -- just like a bug in my ear. I thought I could hear a voice."

That voice was Woon C. Ng, 56, who had been fishing a half mile away on the other side of the channel on Black Falcon Terminal. Flaherty drove to the pier and found an abandoned fishing pole. In the black water below, Ng "looked terrified," Flaherty said, and was screaming, "Help me! Help me!"

With the help of a boat from Massport Fire Department, Flaherty was able to fish Ng from the water. He was rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was in serious condition this afternoon, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

"Clearly God wanted this guy to live," Flaherty said, reflecting on the rescue. "Why would I hear this guy's voice from a half-mile away?"

• Comment
• Permalink
• Email