The second man has been recovered from Sengekontacket Pond today, ending a four-day search that started Sunday night when two brothers went missing after a late-night jump off the big bridge on Beach road on the Oak Bluffs/Edgartown border.
The body of Tavaris Bulgin, 26, was recovered at approximately 6:24 a.m. the next morning by the Massachusetts State Police, and followed a multi-day police, fire, and Coast Guard search. Late Thursday morning, a shellfisherman located Tavaughn Bulgin, 21, near Felix Neck in Edgartown.
In the wake of the accident, the Island has come together to mourn. Hundreds of members of the community gathered with Bulgin family members at the big bridge on Wednesday evening to hold a vigil in honor of the brothers.
The two men, of Clarendon, Jamaica, were employees of Nomans, a restaurant in Oak Bluffs, Edgartown police chief Bruce McNamee confirmed Tuesday.
“Tavaris and Tavaughn left an impression on everyone they met—at 26 and 21 years old, their bright smiles, charismatic personalities, unshakable faith and unrelenting positive attitude made them an absolute joy to be around,” Doug Abdelnour, owner of Nomans, wrote on the Tavaris and Tavaughn Memorial Fund web page he created to cover funeral and travel expenses for the family.
With an initial fundraising target of $50,000, the fund has since raised more than $176,000, with more than 1,300 donors contributing to the cause. One anonymous donor contributed $25,000 Wednesday afternoon.
The brothers are survived by their parents, Reverend Keith and Jacqueline Bulgin of Palmers Cross, Clarendon, Jamaica, and by their two sisters.
Reverend Leslie Pinnock of the Escarpment Road New Testament Church of God of Kingston, Jamaica, spoke to the Jamaica Observer on behalf of the grieving family. He confirmed that both Tavaris and Tavaughn were active in their father’s ministry.
“They played music in church, and were actively involved in their father’s ministry; these were young men who were destined to make a difference,” Rev. Pinnock told the Observer.
Both young men had studied business at universities in Jamaica, he added.
Lieutenant Chris Dolby of the Edgartown Police Department (EPD) told the Gazette that the search effort for the brothers began around 11 p.m. Sunday night, after EPD received a call reporting “swimmers in distress” at the big bridge.
“Once on scene, police learned several employees of a local restaurant traveled to the bridge; four individuals jumped off the bridge. Two individuals began to struggle in the current,” Cape & Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe wrote in a press release. Those two individuals “did not return to shore,” the press release continued.
Within minutes of the initial call, Oak Bluffs and Edgartown rescue boats were searching the area. State police and Coast Guard helicopters, boats and divers began multiple searches inside and outside of Sengekontacket Pond. Shoreline searches were conducted on foot and by all-terrain vehicle along all the northern-facing shoreline from the small bridge to bend in the road as well as the pond side.
Oak Bluffs police chief Jonathan Searle said state and environmental police had continued the search Tuesday morning, performing grid searches with sonar technology. He said divers manually checked areas flagged by sonar scans.
Oak Bluffs fire chief Nelson Wirtz said that marker buoys were dropped and followed and their paths and locations searched multiple times.
Adverse weather Wednesday complicated the state and environmental police’s continued efforts.The big bridge, officially named the American Legion Memorial Bridge, is known colloquially as the “Jaws” bridge for its prominent feature in the 1975 blockbuster of the same name.
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