Women in submerged car in RI had worked on yachts

[Reader]

http://www.centurylink.net/news/rea...ass&action=1&lang=en&_LT=UNLC_NKNWU00L1_UNEWS

NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) — Three women found dead in a submerged car at a Rhode Island shipyard were friends who worked on some of the world's finest yachts, according to a business owner in the luxury boat industry.

The car was found at about 6:30 a.m. Friday sticking out of about 4 feet of water in Newport Harbor at the privately owned Newport Shipyard. Police believe that the driver missed a turn in foggy conditions, and that the car had been in the water for at least several hours before it was discovered.

Authorities identified the women as Jennifer Way of North Kingstown, R.I.; Louise Owen of Wales in the United Kingdom and Femmetje Staring of the Netherlands. All were 39 years old.............

All three women were highly respected in their fields and enormously well-liked. We will miss them all terribly."

Wilson said Way had celebrated her 10th anniversary working at MCM this year. He added that Staring and Owen "were also astonishing, bright, delightful women."..............


What a tragedy....I'm just wondering why they couldn't get out of the car in just 4 feet of water....

 

[SoBeCzar]

How sad. Jessica Savage the newscaster also drowned in shallow water years ago after her friend took a wrong turn. The water was murky and it was thought she became disoriented. Her friend was knocked unconscious. She drowned in the back seat with her dog.
I wonder if alcohol was involved. I've always felt it hard to believe a person wouldn't just open the door and get out in that circumstance. Could the water have shorted out the door locks and trapped them? Or maybe it was just hard to even find the door lock and the water rushed in so quickly they drowned.

 

[Nova]

How sad. Jessica Savage the newscaster also drowned in shallow water years ago after her friend took a wrong turn. The water was murky and it was thought she became disoriented. Her friend was knocked unconscious. She drowned in the back seat with her dog.
I wonder if alcohol was involved. I've always felt it hard to believe a person wouldn't just open the door and get out in that circumstance. Could the water have shorted out the door locks and trapped them? Or maybe it was just hard to even find the door lock and the water rushed in so quickly they drowned.

Based entirely on things I've read, it may be impossible to open a car door against the pressure of sufficient water outside. It's also very difficult to smash car windows unless one has great strength or a tool of some kind.

The solution, supposedly, is to wait until enough water has flooded the car so that the pressure is equalized and then open the door. I don't know how many of us would have the presence of mind to remember that and follow through in an emergency. In the dark, no less.

Also, depending on tides, the car may have been completely submerged when it went into the water and later 4 feet out of the water when it was found.