An elderly woman and her two dogs drowned yesterday when her car rolled into a fast flowing river.
The red saloon had stopped on a slipway as the 76-year-old and her husband waited to catch a ferry.
But when the husband got out to take photographs of the picturesque stretch of water, the car began rolling forward.
It
is not known why the car started moving, although it possible that the
handbrake had not been applied. Police are preparing to check the
vehicle for any mechanical faults.
Wreckage: The red saloon car after being pulled from the river. Retrieving th evehicle took more than two hours
Emergency service vehicles leave the King Harry
Ferry after attended the River Fal near Trelissick, Cornwall. A
pensioner died while waiting to board the ferry
Witnesses said the couple, who have not
been named, had been queuing with other motorists to cross the River Fal
in Cornwall on the King Harry ferry yesterday afternoon. They said the
car struck another vehicle after rolling down the slipway.
As the other car moved away, the rolling car fell into the freezing river.
A huge rescue operation was launched just after 4pm involving a Navy helicopter, two lifeboats, a pilot tug and civilian divers.
But it was two hours before the car was retrieved and the woman’s body recovered.
It is believed the bodies of the couple’s pet dogs were still in the vehicle when it was brought to the surface.
The car the woman was in rolled into the water as her husband reportedly got out to take a picture
The ferry service was suspended while the rescue and recovery attempts were underway
A police diver, as well as a civilian volunteer diver, searched for the body after the accident
Local diver Matt Vernon tried to save the woman after the car went into the river.
He said the victim had initially got out of the stationary car but went
back to collect her dogs and accidentally released the handbrake.
‘It was really murky down there,’ he said. ‘The river is very deep, around 80ft, the car was down at around 25ft.
‘At one point I got down to one side and noticed the window was wide
open so the car was completely flooded and I couldn’t get in it because
of the depth and the cold.’
Devon and Cornwall Police said they were treating the incident as a ‘tragic accident’.
The King Harry Ferry Company suspended their services.
The ferry connects St Mawes and the Roseland Peninsula with Feock, Truro
and Falmouth, and is an alternative route to a 27-mile journey through
Truro and Tresillian.
It has been operating since 1888.
The King Harry ferry crossing the river Fal near Trelissick in Cornwall. A car fell from the rear and a passenger was drowned
File photo of the King Harry Ferry site near
Trelissick, Cornwall, where a woman passenger is understood to have died
after a car fell into the water
Last night a spokesman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said:
‘Divers went on scene to help locate the vehicle underwater and while
search and rescue teams continued a search of the water and shore line,
fire and rescue units winched the vehicle out of the water.
‘The lady occupant of the vehicle was recovered from within the car at 6pm and was transferred to hospital by helicopter.’
Inspector Richard Hocking from Devon and Cornwall Police said: ‘We need
to look at the vehicle to make sure there are no faults with it and try
to get a full picture of exactly what’s gone on before we jump to any
conclusion.
‘Our thoughts are very much with the family at the moment.’
Search: A still from a web video showing King
Harry Ferry where a car fell into the water with a woman inside. Rescue
services have now winched it from the water
DAILYMAIL
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