Tragedy sparks action to install boat ramp gate

The Town of Roque Bluffs is taking immediate action to improve safety on a road that leads directly onto a steep boat ramp and into the water, after three people died there on Saturday, September 19. A Mount Desert woman and her two young grandchildren lost their lives in Pond Cove after their vehicle went into the water that night. Five people have now died in the past 13 years from being in a vehicle that drove into the bay at that location. To prevent any more deaths, the town has now placed a barrier on the road before it heads onto the boat ramp.

Sharon Bukulmez, 61, of Mount Desert was last seen at approximately 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 19, leaving a family wedding in Jonesboro with her 5‑year‑old granddaughter, Kinsley Grubb, and 3‑year‑old grandson, Sawyer Grubb, both of Bar Harbor, according to Shannon Moss, public information officer for the Maine Department of Public Safety. The three were traveling to Machias but did not arrive as expected.

After concerns were raised about their whereabouts, law enforcement began attempting to locate Bukulmez and the children. As part of that effort, the Bar Harbor Police Department obtained location information from Bukulmez's cell phone, which indicated a location in the water near the boat ramp at the end of Schoppee Point Road in Roque Bluffs.

The Maine State Police, their dive team and the Maine Marine Patrol responded to the scene, and at approximately 7 a.m. the following morning they located the vehicle submerged in Pond Cove. The bodies of Bukulmez and her two grandchildren, along with the vehicle, were subsequently recovered from the water. The Washington County Sheriff's Office and the U.S. Coast Guard also assisted at the scene.

The bodies were transported to the Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Augusta, where autopsies are being performed to determine the cause and manner of death. The circumstances surrounding the incident remain under investigation.

The previous incident occurred on the foggy night of July 23, 2013, when Amy Stiner, 37, of Machias and Melissa Moyer, 38, of Sunbury, Pa., drowned after Stiner drove her 2001 Dodge Caravan minivan off the end of the Pond Cove boat ramp into the ocean at approximately 9 p.m. They had called 911 to say that the car was filling up with water, and then the phone went dead. Following the GPS coordinates from the phone, law enforcement agencies were finally able to locate the car around 10 p.m. about 175 feet from shore. Stiner was five months pregnant, and a dog was also in the vehicle.

"It's very confusing when you're driving in that area, especially in the dark in fog and rain," Donnie Smith, then the Washington County sheriff, pointed out about the Schoppee Point Road. "The road ends suddenly. I'm assuming the car floated for a while before it sank, but I don't know for sure. We've had this happen before but not fatally." One of the previous incidents was in 2005, when a Rhode Island man drove his car off the boat ramp, but he and his friends survived.

Following the 2013 incident, the Town of Roque Bluffs installed warning signs along Schoppee Point Road to alert drivers of the impending boat ramp and water.

Lisa Hanscom, the emergency management director for Washington County, had been a selectman in Roque Bluffs at the time of the 2013 tragedy and says the town worked with the Maine Department of Transportation and the state park to have the reflective warning signs stating "Road ends" installed, beginning about a half mile from the boat ramp at the state park. Two more signs are about 300 feet from the water. There is a streetlight at the parking lot before the boat ramp, and there is also a boat launch sign near the top of the ramp with a red reflector on it.

"They're very reflective" and can be seen both at night and in the fog, Hanscom says. "We felt the signs did a lot for marking the boat landing."

She notes that, while the town owns the road, it doesn't own the property on either side of the road. Prentiss Harmon, the harbormaster for Roque Bluffs, says the road goes directly onto the boat ramp, which leads into a cove off Englishman's Bay. The ramp is used by "a lot of fishermen," with a number of boats moored off there. Recreational boaters also use the ramp, with the numbers increasing in recent years. Following the latest deaths, he was sure that the town would be considering steps to make the location safer.

Hanscom agrees, stating, "I'm sure there will be more discussion when a tragedy happens," and she adds that towns are always considering safety issues, even when there is not a tragedy.

Ernest Libby, one of the Roque Bluffs selectmen, says the town has been discussing possible additional safety measures along the road for some time and is now making some immediate changes. A temporary barrier was installed on September 22, and a permanent gate could be in place as early as September 25. Other options that have been mentioned include flashing signs or rerouting of the road.

ABC News has issued a short video on the immediate steps that need to be taken if you are in a car that is sinking. The demonstration performed by professional safety experts shows that the first 30 to 60 seconds of action are critical to getting out of a car. Doors will not open when even partly submerged because of water pressure. Roll down the windows and get out. Most car windows are now controlled by electrical systems, which will fail once the car begins to submerge. The video stresses the importance of carrying in the car a small tool that can break car glass easily so that the passengers are able to push the glass out and make their escape.