Woman dies after being rescued from island off Cape Cod following boat fire
Cynthia Sullivan, her son, and her husband escaped to Naushon Island after their boat went up in flames this week.
Cynthia and Patrick Sullivan. GoFundMe
By Ross Cristantiello
A woman who escaped a burning boat and was rescued from an island off Cape Cod this week has died.
Cynthia Sullivan, 72, died Thursday afternoon, according to a GoFundMe online fundraiser that was set up to support Sullivan and her family.
Chris Sullivan, her son, told The Boston Globe that she suffered severe hypothermia and smoke inhalation.
“Her heart couldn’t take it,” he told the paper.
Cynthia, her husband Patrick Sullivan, and their son Tyler Sullivan departed from Eel Pond in Falmouth last Friday aboard their 30-foot pleasure craft “Third Wave,” according to authorities. They planned to remain anchored between Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard for a few days before returning Tuesday afternoon.
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But in the early hours of Tuesday morning, the trio were “awakened by their dogs barking and the sound of fireworks followed by smoke,” according to the GoFundMe. Tyler “acted heroically, assisting his parents as they swam toward the shoreline.”
Concerned family members reported the vessel overdue after it did not return Tuesday night. Crews searched throughout Tuesday night and Wednesday morning for the family, who had found refuge on nearby Naushon Island. The vessel later sank, and the dogs onboard died.
Tyler eventually found the vessel’s radio while walking along the beach and called for help. He told members of the Coast Guard that the ship sank in Tarpaulin Cove and that he and his parents were sheltering in a barn near a lighthouse.
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“Our ship burned while we were sleeping. We barely escaped,” the son said in the mayday call obtained by WCVB.
Volunteers from the Naushon Trust located the family and administered first aid, according to the Coast Guard. They were airlifted to Cape Cod Hospital.
Patrick is now being treated for burns at a Boston hospital, but is awake and breathing “on his own,” Chris told the Globe. Tyler is awake and able to speak.
The GoFundMe had raised more than $12,000 for the family as of Friday afternoon. The money will be used to assist with funeral expenses and the “recovery process following this tragic event,” the organizer wrote.