Possible car into water sends Saugus search crews to river

SAUGUS – A report of a car slowly sinking into the murky waters of the Saugus River with its headlights on spawned a massive search late Friday on Ballard Street.Crews were still searching at midnight.Saugus police said a witness to the incident called around 9 p.m. and said she saw a car drive down the boat ramp into the dark water, float for a short time and then descend from her view.Members of the Saugus Fire Department quickly took to the icy cold river in a small boat searching for potential victims, shining bright lights into the roughly 25 foot deep water.A short time later, divers from the Cambridge Dive Team arrived to assist in the frantic operation.Fire Chief James Blanchard said he feared the worst-case scenario when the call came in.”This is an active boat yard and sometimes stolen cars are dumped in the river,” he said. “When cars go in the water, they actually float for a short time, it’s not like what you see on TV, when they quickly sink?they float down slow.”Shivering in the cold and hoping to catch a glimpse of what was going on, Saugus resident Don Carrick said he and his daughter Shannon walked down to the boat ramp as soon as they saw the commotion.”You know, the weird thing is that when I got here, I saw tire tracks coming out of the water about 20 feet, but nothing past it,” he said. “So, if the car went in the water, why were there tracks coming out? It just seems a little strange to me.”Quickly rushing out of his warm home to get to the scene and forgetting his hat along the way, Town Administrator Andrew Bisignani said a number of stolen cars have come to find the Saugus River their new home over the years.”Seems to be a pretty easy thing to do, and its happened a lot in the past,” he said.Lynn Fire also assisted in the search.