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Several witnesses at Salem Maritime National Historic Site said Tuesday they believed a body had been pulled from the harbor beside Derby Wharf, an account no agency had confirmed as police kept a taped-off dock under guard into the afternoon.
Yellow police tape ran from the floating dock in Salem, Massachusetts, to the gravel harborwalk path, as Salem police officers, firefighters and an Atlantic ambulance crew worked a scene no agency would explain.
Multiple marked and unmarked Salem police vehicles lined the path above the harbor, one with its door open and lights on. The Atlantic ambulance, marked for advanced life support, was parked nearby with its lights flashing.
Several people in plain clothes, with badges on lanyards around their necks, stood near the dock among the uniformed officers. Salem police would not say who they were or what agency they represented.
National Park Service rangers were also on scene. A ranger approached by a reporter would not describe what had happened, saying only that information would come from the Salem Police Department. Salem police dispatch, reached by phone, said officers remained on scene gathering information and would release nothing until the scene had cleared.
Bystanders kept back from the tape line. Neither Salem police nor the National Park Service had issued a statement as of this writing. The Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and the Essex County District Attorney’s office, both routinely notified in sudden or unexplained deaths in the county, had not confirmed any involvement. No Massachusetts State Police vehicles were visible at the scene.
