By Kristen Senz
The Union Leader
Copyright 2007 Union Leader Corp.
All Rights Reserved
CORNISH, N.H. — A Claremont woman whose sport utility vehicle went off Route 12A and into the Connecticut River was helped to safety by a Unity man who was driving by moments after the crash.
Cornish Fire Chief Nate Cass said Barbara Fluette, 66, was the first driver to be pulled from the river alive during his 35 years with the department.
“This is very, very unusual,” he said.
Cass said it’s not clear why Fluette drove her navy blue 2004 GMC Envoy off the road just after 1:30 p.m.
“We’ve got no idea why she went in, whether she fell asleep or what,” he said.
State Police said later that while the accident is still under investigation, neither speed nor alcohol appear to be a factor in the crash.
After crashing into the river, the vehicle floated downstream about 100 feet, finally coming to rest about 50 feet from the riverbank. All that was visible of the vehicle was its roof and roof rack. Fluette crawled to the rear portion of the vehicle where a closed hatchback area allowed her to breath long enough for help to arrive, Cass said.
A passing motorist, John Smith, 46, of Unity, saw the crash, jumped into the 50-degree river and swam out to see if someone was trapped inside the vehicle, according to New Hampshire State Police. He helped the woman escape through the back door and get onto the roof, Cass said.
The Windsor, Vt., Fire Department was the first agency to arrive. Rescuers put a rope around the woman and gave her a life jacket. Cornish Rescue Squad members plucked the woman off the top of the vehicle and brought her to safety in a rescue boat.
Fluette, who state police said suffered serious injuries, was taken via ambulance to Mount Ascutney Hospital and then to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon for treatment.
A member of the Cornish Rescue Squad turned over a black carrying case to the New Hampshire State Police trooper at the scene. She said the case had floated out of the vehicle while rescue workers were securing ropes to a broken back window.
Inside the black case was a copy of the Bible.
“I think you-know-who was with her,” July Van de Bogart, New Hampshire Highway Department foreman said of Fluette. “She would probably call it a miracle, which is not far from the truth I guess.”
S.G. Reed Trucking Services of Claremont took on the challenge of getting Fluette’s vehicle out of the river, over a guardrail and onto the back of a wrecker. With help from three members of the Cornish Rescue Squad in the rescue boat, Reed Trucking owner Scott Reed was able to pull the vehicle onto the riverbank using a rope anchored to a tree and a cable connected to his wrecker.
“I hope it just drags across, but there’s just no way to know,” Reed said as he prepared to dislodge the vehicle from the bottom of the river. “We don’t even know what’s between us and the car. There could be rocks, stumps, anything.”
Luckily, the vehicle moved smoothly to the embankment where it was drained of water and later pulled back up onto the road.
Reed estimated the bill for the tow service would be about $2,000.