Car pulled from Blackstone River Saturday afternoon

BLACKSTONE, Mass. — A woman in her 60s and her cat survived after their car accelerated more than 100 feet down a Blackstone cliff into a river on late Saturday morning.

The woman was picking up her pets at a groomer when, one witness says, she backed up, hit a poll, then accelerated forward. The car went off of the cliff, going airborne before hitting the water.

"My initial thought was no one’s going to survive this," said Blackstone Fire Chief Michael Sweeney.

"The lady that was in the car managed to open the passenger door, pop the trunk, get out of the car, retrieve her cat that was in the carrier case and surface."

"She had more composure than I did," Chief Sweeney added. "It became remarkable because she didn't want to go to the hospital, all she was worried about was her cat."

The blue Nissan Sentra sunk to the bottom of the river. Divers spent hours searching for the vehicle. Finally, just before 4 p.m., it was pulled from the water while people stood by watching in awe.

"My heart was pounding," said Linda Beausoleil, a neighbor. "Good thing she's safe, you know."

Call it luck or a miracle, people in Blackstone are thankful this evening that the situation wasn’t worse.

The woman was taken to the hospital to get checked out. Her cat was taken to animal control to be looked at. Both are doing ok.

Cox Media Group