Maine lobstermen rescue pair trapped in SUV underwater | Bangor Daily News

SOUTH THOMASTON, Maine — Two lobstermen helped to rescue a man and woman Sunday afternoon after their SUV plunged into the water near the South Thomaston Public Landing.

“We were tying up our skiff and heard a horrendous crash,” said Rolf Winters of South Thomaston. “We looked up and saw the car flying through the air.”

According to Knox County sheriff’s Deputy Matt Elwell, Frank Rankin, 77, of Camden had been driving through South Thomaston with passenger Ruth Duff, 85, also of Camden, at about 1:45 p.m. when his foot went numb. Rankin pulled in to the town landing and tried to hit the brake, but accidentally hit the accelerator instead and plunged over the stone wall and into the Weskeag River.

Winters, a retired volunteer firefighter for South Thomaston, said that he and his son Kurt Winters, 31, were 15 feet or so away when the silver Dodge Durango hit the water nose-first.

“It was airborne right in front of our eyes,” he said. “It really went down fast.”

Click for the rest of the story by Abigail Curtis in the Bangor Daily News.