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Rescuers of NY woman receive honors

Corey Ziraldo and Brittany Thompson were presented the Captain David P. Dobbins Award for helping rescue the St. Louis woman who slipped while hiking

By Nancy A. Fischer
Buffalo News

YOUNGSTOWN, N.Y. — A Whirlpool Jet Boat captain and crew member were honored Tuesday by the U.S. Coast Guard for their roles in saving a woman from drowning in the lower Niagara River in July.

Corey Ziraldo and Brittany Thompson were presented the Captain David P. Dobbins Award for helping rescue the St. Louis woman who slipped on the rocks while hiking along the shore near the Niagara Whirlpool on July 18.

The woman was swept into the lower Niagara River, and her fiance was able to flag down the Whirlpool Jet Boat for help.

Ziraldo and Thompson maneuvered the craft into place and pulled the unconscious woman aboard. Although she had been underwater for several minutes, the crew and two passengers, Michael and Lori Pickette from Nebraska, administered CPR and restored her pulse while racing to the Village of Lewiston dock. The woman made a full recovery.

State Park Police Lt. Patrick Moriarty said that the Whirlpool Jet Boat and the Niagara Scenic Helicopters in Ontario have been instrumental in search and rescue operations in the lower Niagara River.

“The captain and crew [of the Whirlpool Jet Boat] are constantly on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary, anything that might be unsafe,” Moriarty said. “They are a great asset. No other boat can go that far upriver to the whirlpools, past Devil’s Hole, not our boats or the Coast Guard.”

Moriarty said State Park Police also plan to recognize Ziraldo, Thompson and the Pickettes for their combined heroic efforts in July.

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