Girl safe after falling off boat

-- Amy R. Spurgeon

NEWPORT BEACH -- A 4-year-old girl who fell off one of the boats

during the 91st annual Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade Sunday was

hurriedly pulled back aboard to safety.

The girl fell off a boat named the Continuing Pleasure as it was about

mid-parade, near the turning basin at Lido Village, said Sgt. Gary Smith

of the Newport Beach Harbor Patrol.

Apparently the girl was only in the water moments before guests on board

the boat pulled her in. Tory Two, a nearby boat that witnessed the

incident, notified the harbor patrol.

Smith said the incident was not broadcast over an emergency channel

because no assistance was required in the rescue effort.

Crew members from another yacht in the parade said they had been

monitoring three main channels throughout the parade, but never heard

anything about the accident.

Boats follow each other in a single-file line during the two hour parade

that circles the harbor.

“The apparent significance of this accident was minor,” Smith said.

“People fall in the water all of the time.”