14 November 2005

Woman dies after car plunges from slipway

A woman has died after her car entered the water from a ferry slipway in Dorset.

The incident occurred around 8pm on Sunday night, when the crew of the Sandbanks Ferry reported seeing a black car plunge into the water on the Poole side of the ferry by the North Haven slipway.

The crew said that one person was still inside and that the car was sinking after staying afloat for a few seconds. The ferry was, at that time, on the south side of the waterway and unable to assist.

The Coastguard helicopters from Lee-on-Solent, which has forward-looking infra-red cameras, was scrambled, along with the Coastguard helicopter from Portland, the Sandbanks Coastguard Rescue Team, the Poole RNLI inshore and all weather lifeboats and Dorset Police.

Around 9pm, a woman was spotted in water and was winched to safety by the Coastguard helicopter. She was given resuscitation on board the helicopter before being taken to Poole Hospital.

However, it was reported that the woman had died on Monday morning. She is expected to be identified later.

The Coastguard said that it was not known if anyone else had been in the car, but said that searches had been conducted to look for other people. No-one else was found during the initial searches.

Bill Gibbs, Portland Coastguard Watch Manager said that the search had been conducted in “very difficult circumstances”.

(KMcA/SP)