Everett woman dies after car plunges off ferry dock in Anacortes

Authorities say a 30-year-old woman from Everett died after she drove her 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee through a barrier and off a dock at the Washington State Ferries terminal at Anacortes.

Officials suspended ferry service on San Juan Islands routes for several hours Thursday after the incident.

The Skagit Valley Herald reports that divers recovered the body of Nicole K. Barney while a tow truck pulled the vehicle from the water. The vehicle was located in 41-foot-deep water near where it went off the dock, trooper Heather Axtman said.

No one else was in the vehicle.

Axtman said preliminary investigation found that Barney apparently arrived at about 7:50 a.m., paid the ferry fare, then drove into the vehicle staging area and parked. Barney later made a u-turn and went back to the ticket booth and then made another u-turn and parked back at the staging area, the newspaper reported.

Axtman says about 9:45 a.m. she drove off at a high rate of speed and went off the end of the dock. One of the traffic arms was located floating in the water near where the vehicle was recovered

Authorities are investigating.

Oil and gas from the vehicle that made its way into the water will be cleaned up, Axtman said.

This story was originally published January 25, 2018 at 3:42 PM with the headline "Everett woman dies after car plunges off ferry dock in Anacortes."