Water rescue saves woman in Hall’s Harbour

“Life-changing experience” for rescuer

At about 7 p.m. on Sept. 13, Tyson Vaughan recalled hearing his father’s fire department pager go off and deciding to go down to the beach “to see if I could give a hand.”

Neighbour Angela Whitney grabbed a buoy from his dad Bobby Vaughan’s boat and then the pair headed out to the section of eastern shoreline known as ‘seagull rock.’

Angela’s daughter, Morgan, spotted the swimmer. Angela threw the woman the buoy. She’d been in the water about 20 minutes, she thought, and was in distress.

He said, “I thought I had the strength to get her,” but in the end the current also helped push the woman back toward shore.

Vaughan helped her out with the aid of those on the beach, including a couple from Tantallon. At that point the fire department and EHS were close at hand.

“She was so weak. They had blankets and a warm coat in the ambulance,” he said. “I hear she’s doing well and recovering.”

For Vaughan the rescue was a life-changing experience.

“We managed to pull her from the water just in time as she had no strength left in her. I grabbed her ice cold body and said ‘today is your lucky day.’”

Now Vaughan, who is 20, is thinking it might finally be time to join the Hall’s Harbour Fire Department.

Fire Chief Dave Watson would be keen. He adds that tourists simply don’t understand the power of a tide on the move.

“The locals know that,” he said. “It wasn’t a wise decision.”

Of the rescuers, Watson said, “The guys did a great job. Tyson jumped right in.”