Chester Basin man honoured for saving woman’s life
Paul Rowe rescued driver after her vehicle plunged into ocean
Paul Rowe won’t soon forget the evening of November 3, 2017. He was watching TV with his wife in the living room of their Chester Basin home when they heard a bang, followed by a loud splash of something plunging into the ocean.
“We ran outside and saw a car submerged in the water, with just the roof and the tops of the windows sticking out,” says Rowe, who lives on Hwy. 3 near Gold River in Lunenburg County.
He heard screaming coming from the vehicle as he splashed through the freezing water, and banged on the roof to let the person inside know someone was there.
“The doors wouldn’t open. I didn’t know if they were locked or if it was the water pressure,” says Rowe. “I dove down to look for a rock to try to break a window, but there was nothing but sand.”
He rushed back to the shore for a rock, the police had arrived to help. Together, Rowe and an officer bashed on the windows with rocks and tried the doors again — this time, one opened. They pulled a female passenger out of the vehicle and floated her back to the shore.
“She was screaming and we couldn’t understand her. She was in terrible shock,” says Rowe. “We