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The boat was not in the water. It sat on top of Grays Rock, driven completely out of Marblehead Harbor, and when firefighters reached it just before midnight Thursday, some of the people who had been aboard were no longer on it.
The Marblehead Fire Department was dispatched to State Street Landing just after 11 p.m. Aug. 6 for a report of a boating accident with multiple injured occupants. By the time crews arrived at the landing, the Marblehead, Salem and Beverly harbormasters were already working. Two occupants had been pulled from the water and brought to the dock, where Beauport Ambulance crews took over.
Firefighters boarded a Marblehead Harbormaster vessel and ran out to the wreck.
At the rock, Marblehead firefighters and the Salem harbormaster went into the water to reach an injured person who had been thrown clear of the boat. They secured the patient, moved them onto the Marblehead Harbormaster boat and began treatment on the ride back to State Street Landing, where Beauport Ambulance was waiting.
The Salem harbormaster then brought in two more occupants with minor injuries, after confirming that everyone involved had been accounted for.
Marblehead police officers helped Beauport crews package patients and carry them up from the dock to the ambulances.
Five people were taken to area hospitals. Their injuries ranged from minor to serious.
The Marblehead Fire Department credited the Marblehead Harbormaster; the Salem Harbormaster's Office; the Beverly Harbormaster; the U.S. Coast Guard; the Marblehead Police Department; Beauport Ambulance Service Inc.; and the Marblehead fire and police 911 dispatchers with the speed of the rescue.
