Experts say airboat rescue death was the first in the nation

SPRINGFIELD – When the Cornish, N.H., Rescue Squad airboat swamped and sank with Virginia "Ginny" Yates aboard Tuesday, causing her to drown, it was the country's first fatality involving an airboat rescue, experts in the field said Friday.

Experts questioned crew members' decision to strap Virginia Yates, 64, of Rockingham to a backboard and rescue gurney on the hull of the Cornish, N.H., rescue boat when they were transporting her across the Connecticut River.

Dwayne