A strong current threatened to carry away two boys who found themselves in the the Mississippi River in downtown St. Paul Thursday.

Fast-thinking workers nearby jumped into action, pulling the two from the water within minutes.

Railroad workers commandeered a boat to rescue a 14-year-old, who went into the river to help his 10-year-old cousin after the younger one slipped in at Raspberry Island.

Meanwhile, the 10-year-old floated between two barges and risked being pulled under, said St. Paul Deputy Fire Chief Stacy Hohertz. Nearby workers found him clinging to a log by the barge.

Upper River Services employees floated a life ring to the boy, “but he was understandably quite scared and he didn’t want to let go to grab” it, said Lee Nelson, president of the St. Paul-based company that handles barge towing, cleaning and repairs among its operations.

Nelson steered a small towboat close enough to the boy for several of his employees to pull the boy out of the water.

“If the boy had let go, I have no way of knowing (what would happen), but I don’t want to know,” Nelson said. “He didn’t let go and I’m awfully glad of the outcome.”

Just last week, two of the Upper River Services workers who rescued the boy were honored by the Ramsey County sheriff’s office and the U.S. Coast Guard for saving a man after he jumped from the Robert Street bridge in May.

After Thursday’s rescue at about 11 a.m., the 10-year-old asked where his 14-year-old cousin was and “fortunately, several seconds later we reunited them” and gave them blankets to warm up, Nelson said.

Paramedics evaluated the boys and released them to a relative, Hohertz said.

“They were not hurt, they were just cold,” she said.

The boys were at the nearby business of the 14-year-old’s father when they slipped away; they weren’t supposed to leave, according to a police spokesman.

They were on Raspberry Island when the 10-year-old — who was walking on rocks by the river’s edge — fell in, Hohertz said. The 14-year-old went after his cousin to try to help.

Union Pacific workers on the Robert Street railroad bridge saw the two boys being swept away by the river’s current.

Scott Kerling threw water-rescue equipment their way, while two other ironworkers — Kyle Dubois and Sidney Rieck — went to a nearby boat, according to Joe Feauto, Union Pacific bridge supervisor for the Twin Cities service unit.

The workers took an unlocked boat from a slip, but they couldn’t start the motor and had to paddle, Nelson said he was told. They tossed a flotation device to the 14-year-old and got him out of the water, according to Hohertz.

“I think what they did was not only heroic, but it was a textbook rescue,” Feauto said. “They coordinated well, they talked things through, they didn’t panic.”

Adam Potter, a Union Pacific worker who mans the Robert Street railroad bridge, radioed to Upper River Services to get them involved, Feauto said.

“I happened to be standing with a bunch of the guys down there” by the river, said Nelson, who heads Upper River Services, which is on the river between the Robert Street and U.S. 52/Lafayette bridges. He told workers to fire up “The Pike,” a small towboat they used last month to rescue the man after he jumped into the river.

Two of the men involved in the recent rescue — mechanics Randy Kohl and Ben Brooks — joined Nelson and another worker, Mike Sandidge, on the boat.

“They kicked into auto drive and within 45 seconds, the boat was running,” Nelson said. They found the 10-year-old hanging onto a log or stick, “holding himself from being swept underneath” a nearby barge, he added.

Sandidge grabbed onto the boy, and Kohl and Brooks helped pull him out.