A woman died after her car entered Buffington Harbor in Gary, Indiana, last Saturday. The recovery took more than a day, in part because officials said the water was contaminated. WGN-TV reported that the woman’s body was found inside the car after it was removed.
According to WGN-TV, the Gary Police Department said the woman called 911 to report that her vehicle was sinking. Surveillance footage from Indiana Sugars showed a white Hyundai entering the property and driving into the harbor. The car came to rest in roughly 12 feet of water, beyond the reach of an immediate rescue.
Contamination Forced a Delayed, Complicated Recovery
Officials said the contaminated water made it unsafe to access the submerged vehicle immediately. Pumps had to be trucked in to lower the water level, according to the station’s report. Crews removed the Hyundai on Sunday, more than a day after the 911 call.
The car had to be decontaminated before crews could fully process the scene, the same account reported. The woman’s body was then confirmed to be inside. As of the most recent reporting, her identity had not been released, and the investigation into how and why the car entered the harbor remained ongoing.
Industrial Legacy Surrounds the Harbor Site
Buffington Harbor is near an area with a long industrial history, but regional contamination records do not establish conditions at the harbor itself. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency describes U.S. Steel’s Gary Works facility and notes that the company has been investigating soil and sediment contamination there. That information concerns Gary Works; it does not independently verify the condition of Buffington Harbor’s water. Officials’ characterization of the harbor water as contaminated is what they cited as a factor in the delayed recovery.
Regional contamination and cleanup context
Separately, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management’s 2024 report says the Grand Calumet River, Indiana Harbor Ship Canal and nearshore of Lake Michigan were designated an Area of Concern principally because of sediment contamination from historical municipal and industrial wastewater and stormwater discharges. That regional designation does not establish conditions at Buffington Harbor.
For now, many basic questions about the case remain unanswered. The woman's name and age have not been made public, according to ABC7 Chicago, and nothing in the available reporting establishes why her car entered the water or what led up to the 911 call. Authorities have not released a cause of death, and the investigation continues.
