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A woman has died a day after the U.S. Coast Guard rescued her and two family members stranded on a remote Massachusetts island that they swam to when their boat went up in flames while anchored in a cove overnight Monday.
Cynthia Sullivan, 73, died Thursday, according to a Facebook post shared Friday by a family member, and after succumbing to injuries she suffered in the incident, Boston 25 News reported.
The family’s dog, who alerted Cynthia Sullivan and her husband Patrick, 72, and their 37-year-old son, Tyler, to the fire as they slept aboard their 30-foot powerboat The Third Wave, also died in the blaze.
The Sullivans swam to Naushon Island — a small island roughly four miles from Martha’s Vineyard — after they awoke to heavy fire.
Burned and injured, the trio took shelter inside a barn on the island, where they spent more than 24 hours until their marine radio washed ashore Wednesday morning, enabling Tyler to call for help.
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“Mayday, mayday, mayday, our ship went down in Tarpaulin Cove,” Tyler is heard saying in a radio transmission to the Coast Guard. “Our ship burned while we were sleeping, and we barely escaped.”
A Coast Guard helicopter rescue crew soon arrived and airlifted the family to Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis.
A family member had reported the Sullivans missing when they didn’t arrive home Tuesday and calls to their cellphones, which went down with the boat, went straight to voicemail.
Multiple agencies searched the area Tuesday night and early Wednesday, and were unable to get accurate pings from the family’s submerged phones until Tyler reached them on the recovered handheld radio, according to the Coast Guard.
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In a Facebook post, Chris Sullivan memorialized his mother and provided updates on his father and “hero” brother.
“She went in peace. We played her some John Mellencamp as she passed, he was her absolute favorite, she adored him,” Sullivan wrote. “This hurts more than anything I could have ever imagined, I am leaning on my close friends and family and my two young children. We will get through this together.
“My dad is awake and breathing on his own. My brother saved both of them, he was able to get them off the boat under extremely chaotic circumstances, he doesn’t want to be called a hero, but he is. Again, thank you for all the support, it means the world.”
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“Quick thinking and having quality equipment allowed the family to survive and call for help,” Scott Backholm, a search and rescue mission coordinator from Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England, said in a statement. “Mariners are encouraged to pursue first aid training and ensure their vessels are outfitted with proper safety equipment.”
The Sullivans had left nearby Falmouth, Massachusetts, last Friday and had planned to return Tuesday afternoon.
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