UPDATED: Two rescued after getting caught in rip in Falmouth

Google Earth/CWN

FALMOUTH – Two Barnstable County Sheriff’s deputies pulled a pair of distressed and exhausted swimmers from the waters of Old Silver Beach in Falmouth shortly after 10 AM Wednesday.

John Doherty, Captain of the Sheriff’s Office patrol boat (S-300), and crew member Sergeant Peter Benson responded to the distress call near Cleveland Ledge in Buzzards Bay. S-300 was in that vicinity to give a ceremonial sendoff to the Mass Maritime Academy ship TS Kennedy. The response time to the scene of the distressed swimmers was about two minutes in choppy water.

Lydya Stone was swimming at Old Silver Beach when she was caught in a rip tide and began yelling for help. Fellow beachgoer Christopher Byrne, a dispatcher for Boston Police, attempted to her rescue but became caught in the rip tide current himself.

Doherty and Benson arrived on scene as a civilian boater had managed to get a life jacket to Stone. Both swimmers were exhausted and clinging to the boat’s side when the deputies reached the area. They deployed life rings and pulled both swimmers to safety aboard the Sheriff’s boat. The incident took place about 100 yards offshore.

Ms. Stone was taken to an area hospital for observation and Byrne did not require medical attention.
Media release furnished by Barnstable County Sheriff’s Office



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