An 18-month baby and her mother were rescued today from the Hudson River after jumping into the choppy waters in an apparent murder-suicide attempt, authorities said.
Paramedics responded to a call at about 11:40 a.m. of two people in the water near West 70th Street and Riverside Drive on the Upper West Side.
The toddler, a girl, and the 34-year-old woman, were pulled from the water.
Both were taken to Cornell Medical Center, police said.
The baby remains in critical condition and hooked up to a ventilator after suffering from hypothermia, police sources said.
The woman is in stable condition, according to the sources.
Cops did not immediately identify the woman and child, but relatives told police she is from India and was depressed, according to a law enforcement official.
The woman had also been in contact with her father and had complained to him that she was homesick, the official said.
The incident is being investigated as a murder-suicide, the official said.
“It was a nightmare,” said witness Lane Beauchamp, 43. “We could see them in the water.”
The baby was rescued by an NYPD’s Harbor Patrol boat, while the woman was plucked out by firefighters.
Witnesses said they saw the woman and baby bobbing in the water, but no one saw how they ended up there. They were pulled out near 59th Street.
“They were floating separately [in the water],” said FDNY Battalion Chief Robert Holzmaier.
Witnesses saw an empty baby carriage on the pier at 70th Street.
“She was semi-conscious. Her breathing was very labored,” said Ben Kalinski, an FDNY paramedic who first treated the toddler.
He said that the baby was very cold.
“Once I got her to the ambulance, she was coughing up water,” Kalinski added.
The Coast Guard said temperatures in the water hovered around 50 degrees.
