| August 4, 2008 RI firefighter dies while trying to rescue boater
|
TIVERTON, R.I. (AP) - Emergency crews continued to search
Stafford Pond for a missing boater Monday, one day after an
off-duty firefighter died while trying to save the man.
Firefighter Gerald Leduc, 53, died Sunday evening while diving
for 39-year-old Joseph Traficonti, who fell or jumped from a
fishing boat during a storm and is presumed drowned. A cause of
death has not been determined.
"Everyone is hurting," Fire Chief Robert Lloyd said.
"Everyone is trying to sort out their feelings."
The accident happened Sunday while Traficonti and his girlfriend
were fishing, said Deputy Chief Kurt Blanchard of the Environmental
Police. After Traficonti went into the water, his girlfriend went
in but could not locate her boyfriend.
Leduc, who lives near the pond, was off-duty. He drove his jet
ski to the scene after hearing a report about the missing man, said
Denise deMedeiros, who has with Leduc and saw him enter the pond
with his diving gear.
"It didn't seem like he was in distress," she told The Newport
Daily News.
Divers from Westport, Mass., soon spotted Leduc motionless in
the water.
He was taken to St. Anne's Hospital in Fall River, Mass., and
pronounced dead. An autopsy will be conducted to determine the
cause of death.
Dozens of firefighters gathered around the shore Monday while
four dive teams searched the pond for Traficonti, Blanchard said.
One resident,
Joseph Arruda, watched from his van parked near a
boat ramp. Arruda credited Leduc with saving his life in 1982 by
tying a tourniquet on his leg to stop the bleeding after a car
accident.
"If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here today," Arruda said.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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