‘A tragedy’: Heartbroken friends recall frantic attempts to save Peabody man who fell from ferry

PROVINCETOWN, MASS. (WHDH) - Heartbroken friends of a Peabody man who died after falling overboard from a ferry near Peddocks Island Saturday night are recalling the crew’s frantic attempts to reach their friend after he plunged into the water.

“You could see him for a while,” Jake Langlois said of his friend, 21-year-old Aaron Dibella, whose body was recovered from the Fore River Channel in Weymouth about 1 a.m. Sunday.

Langlois said he came back from the bathroom to learn that his best friend had fallen overboard and was held back by staffers on the Provincetown II as they desperately tried to get Dibella back aboard the ferry.

“All of us, we wanted to jump over,” he recalled. “We wanted to help. They weren’t having it, pushing us back.”

In a statement Sunday, the Bay State Cruise Company said Langlois had been doing vertical pushups on the bulwark before he fell in and stressed that crew members shined a spotlight on him, threw him a life preserver and even jumped into the water with him in an effort to bring him back to safety.

“To our crew, we say, bless you for your efforts and commitment to your training,” the statement read, “and, to the family of the lost passenger, there are no words – none – to convey our deepest and most sincere sympathies. We are heartbroken.”

Langlois said he wants to remember his friend the way he was — fun, respectful and kind to everyone he met.

“Aaron’s a great kid… I love him,” he said. “It’s just a tragedy, someone that young.”

The Plymouth District Attorney’s Office said Dibella’s body was found about 100 yards from where he had gone overboard in Hull. An autopsy has been scheduled to determine the cause of death.

The incident is being investigated by state troopers assigned to the Plymouth DA’s office.

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