Search resumes for missing Jamaican who jumped off ‘Jaws Bridge’
Mikala Johnson / Our Today
Authorities were back on Martha’s Vineyard today (August 16), where they have resumed searching for a 21-year-old Jamaican man who presumably drowned when he and his older brother jumped off the bridge connecting Edgartown and Oak Bluffs Sunday night.
Tavaughn Bulgin and his older brother, 26-year-old Tavaris Bulgin, were with two friends when they jumped off the bridge made famous in the movie Jaws around 11 pm Sunday. The spot is a popular place for swimmers.
Two members of the group safely got out of the water, but the brothers did not.
The body of Tavaris Bulgin was recovered around 6:30 am Monday but, despite a search that began late Sunday night and continued into Monday afternoon, authorities had not located Tavaughn Bulgin when the search was suspended late Monday.
Environmental Police using side-scanning sonar and State Police divers returned to the area in hopes of recovering the missing man, officials said.
“We have several divers and a Marine Unit boat and crew working alongside Environmental Police officers,” State Police spokesman David Procopio wrote in an e-mail Tuesday.
“The overall area they have searched/are searching is very large, encompassing both the inlet on the land side of the bridge and the ocean on the seaward side.”
If the sonar device “detects an anomaly our Underwater Recovery Unit members will dive on it to determine what it is,” Procopio wrote.
The brothers were seasonal workers at the Nomans restaurant in Oak Bluffs, according to reports.
The restaurant remained closed Tuesday and the parking lot was empty. An Instagram post said it will likely reopen Wednesday.
On a typical summer day, dozens of people line up on the ocean side of the Jaws Bridge waiting to jump into the water, despite signs reading “no diving or jumping” placed prominently at both ends.
But Oak Bluffs Fire Chief Nelson Wirtz said the waters can be dangerous, especially for novice swimmers. He urged anyone who chooses to ignore the safety warnings to wear a life jacket.
It wasn’t long after authorities left the area, following their search Monday, that people returned to the bridge and began jumping into the fast-moving waters below.
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