The captain and two passengers aboard the On Time ferry helped pull a woman from the frigid waters of Edgartown Harbor to safety early Tuesday morning.
At approximately 8:30 Tuesday morning, according to police, a woman they declined to identify dove off the ferry slip on the Chappaquiddick side of the ferry route into the 37-degree water and began swimming across the channel for the Edgartown side.
Ferry captain Brad Fligor was just beginning his crossing with workmen and trucks on the way to Chappy. John Bunker, excavation contractor with Brickstone Construction told The Times that he was in his truck on his way to a job site on Chappy when he saw the woman, dressed in street clothes, dive into the water on the Chappy side of the channel. “She ran down to the ramp and dove right in the water,” he said. Mr. Bunker said he immediately notified Mr. Fligor. “At first he was in disbelief, but I said it really happened and she’s in front of the slip right now.”
Mr. Bunker said initially there was some difficulty spotting the woman in the water. Once she was sighted, Mr. Fligor pulled close enough so that Mr. Bunker and another passenger, Deshaun Williams, were able to reach over the bow and pull the woman from the icy water.
Once onshore in Edgartown, the woman was transported to Martha’s Vineyard Hospital for medical treatment and psychiatric evaluation, according to Edgartown police.
“She wouldn’t have made it much longer if we hadn’t pulled her out, that’s for sure” Mr. Bunker said. “She was conscious but she was starting to go hypothermic.”
“I’m glad I saw her dive in the water because nobody else did,” Mr. Bunker said.
Mr. Bunker said when he got to the job site on Chappy, one of his coworkers told him the same woman had suddenly jumped in front of his truck and that he had to swerve off the road to miss her.
“She clearly was very distraught,” Mr. Bunker said.
Correction – An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Chappy ferry owner Peter Wells was piloting the boat at the time of the rescue.
