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Man’s body pulled from the Sakonnet

01:00 AM EDT on Friday, July 11, 2008

Journal Staff Report

TIVERTON — Firefighters retrieved the body of an adult man from the Sakonnet River yesterday morning.

Tiverton Fire Chief Robert Lloyd said the department received a 911 call at about 10:30 a.m. from the head chef of the Boathouse Restaurant, who said he saw a floating object in the river about 300 yards offshore.

Firefighters retrieved the body on the shore just south of the restaurant, in the area of Riverside and Poplar drives, Lloyd said.

The body was turned over to the state medical examiner’s office, which expects to identify the man today, said Annemarie Beardsworth, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health.

The Coast Guard on Wednesday called off its search for Bernard Mochan, 56, of Clinton, Conn., who had fallen off his 32-foot sailboat Monday near the entrance of the Sakonnet River while sailing with his wife. Mochan had been struck in the head by the boat’s boom. He was not wearing a flotation device.

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