DURHAM — An intoxicated University of New Hampshire student was rescued early Friday morning after she became stuck in waist deep mud near Oyster River High School, marking the second such incident in the town in as many weeks.



Assistant Fire Chief Jason Cleary said rescue officials were called at about 3:30 a.m. by a neighbor near the swampy area of Coe Drive who heard screams for help coming from a nearby wooded area.



Police officers, who arrived first on scene, almost immediately established voice contact with 19-year-old Christina Nichols, of Beverly, Mass., who was stuck in a swampy embankment about 100 yards from Coe Drive, Deputy Police Chief Rene Kelley said.



A few minutes later, fire officials climbed down the embankment into 8-foot-high marsh grass and rescued the woman using water rescue suits and search and rescue ropes.



Nichols was conscious and alert when she was rescued and she was able to walk away, but Cleary said she was suffering from possible hypothermia. She was cared for on scene by McGregor Memorial EMS personnel and was transported to Wentworth-Douglass Hospital.



Cleary said he was unsure exactly why Nichols walked into the embankment, but added that the area is very dark at night and she indicated that she became lost trying to find her way back to campus.



"It was definitely off the beaten path," Cleary said. "I don't know how you would get that far into it unless you got turned around or you weren't sure where you were to begin with."



Kelley said Nichols was released from Wentworth-Douglass early Friday morning and was then charged with internal possession of alcohol by a minor.



This is the second time town rescue officials have performed water rescues for underaged intoxicated university students since students returned to campus at the end of August.



On Aug. 29, move-in weekend, police responded to a call from 19-year-old Isaiah Martin, who was stuck in a marsh near Young Drive.



Kelley said Martin called emergency dispatch at about 3:45 a.m. while he was stuck in the marsh and said he did not know where he was located, prompting dispatchers to use the GPS on Martin's cell phone to find his location.



"He was unable to give us a plausible explanation as to how he ended up there," Kelley said. "He indicated he had no memory of how he arrived there, he just recalls waking up in the marsh. He was obviously panic stricken and contacted 911."



Kelley said Martin, who is also a UNH football player, was "heavily intoxicated" when police helped him out of the marsh.



"This is alarming," Kelley said. "Here are two young people, both underaged and both extremely intoxicated, who find themselves in very potentially life-threatening situations. That's exactly why we emphasize heavy enforcement of alcohol violations and expend the resources to try to combat it."



Like Nichols, Martin was also charged with internal possession of alcohol.