A kayak found the body of Mas Dechhat, a 6-year-old boy who fell into the Merrimack River in Newburyport on Thursday. “It is with great sadness that we report that the young boy’s body has been retrieved. The family has been notified and we pray that the family will be closed shortly,” Amesbury police said Sunday. The boy’s mother, Boua DeChhat, drowned trying to save her son. A family of six – a mother, a father, two girls and two boys – drove to Deer Island on Thursday and parked on the island’s Newburyport side to fish and swim. Around 7pm, police say the father went to his car in the island’s parking lot to get equipment for the family. State police said that at that moment, Mas, who was ashore at the water’s edge, spread a stick and fell inside. The fast current pulled him. Mas’s 7-year-old sister tried to grab him, but she also fell in and was electrocuted. Although she did not know how to swim, their mother went into the water to try to save her children. Mother and daughter were dragged under the Whittier Bridge, where a boatman pulled them out of the water. Boa was rushed to a local hospital but did not survive. Her daughter was later released from the hospital. The father was hospitalized for hypothermia but survived. Crews use divers, boats and helicopters to search for Mas in recent days. His body was found around 1 a.m. Sunday.
