Accidents of the Week - August 12, 2023
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Family Rescues 2 from Boat Engulfed in Flames
7/30/23 – Traverse City, MI
Two people were stuck on board a 21-foot Baja on 30 July as it went up in flames on West Grand Traverse Bay, Lake Michigan.
"It's too late, guys," one person can be heard saying in a video recording of the incident. "It's too late. Get off the boat. It's gonna blow." As the fire intensified, the pair was forced to jump overboard, with good Samaritans Nathan Greenwood and his wife boating nearby and able to come to the rescue.
"I knew very quickly that if they did not get off the boat, they were either going to pass out from smoke inhalation, the heat, or it would end up eventually exploding," Nathan said. "It's really fortunate, because within three seconds of them jumping off of the boat, it exploded."
The fire-engulfed boat soon sunk to the bottom of the bay.
Mom Accidentally Kills 6-year-old Daughter During Day at Lake
7/28/23 – Peoria, AZ
A six-year-old girl died after her leg was amputated by the propeller of a boat that her mom was driving on Arizona’s Lake Pleasant. The schoolgirl was rushed to hospital after being pulled from the water in Peoria, Arizona, on 28 July.
Authorities confirmed she was pronounced dead at the medical center, and a spokesman for Maricopa County Sheriff's Office described the incident as a “tragic accident.”
Police see large number on boat as contributing factor
A group of 12 people from two families had been swimming and wakeboarding on their boat from around 7am. The group of six adults and six children, who were all wearing life jackets, were on the same boat when the incident happened. Around 11am, the child's mother had been driving, with cops confirming that no one realized the girl was still in the water.
Her mother began to accelerate to pull another member of the family who was wakeboarding, and the schoolgirl was run over by the boat. The father of the child was in the water holding onto a wakeboard when he noticed someone in the water and swam to the child, said the spokesman for the sheriff’s office:
“He and the mother quickly realized their daughter was in the water and had suffered a leg amputation from the boat's propeller.” Witnesses at the scene confirmed that the child's mother was operating the boat when she began to drive and, unbeknownst to the family, the child had somehow entered the water.
“Though it is an ongoing investigation we don't see any signs of impairment as of right now. We are going to call this a tragic accident. Contributing factors that may have led to this incident is a lot of people on the boat,” the spokesman added. “Detectives are with the boat and processing the boat and looking into safety measures that were or were not in place. But it looks like everything that needs to be on the boat is on the boat. Nobody comes out here and expects a tragedy.”
The owners of the boat were described by the police as “experienced boaters,” adding they “may have lost track of who was on the boat” because they were in “different locations swimming and wakeboarding.”
Coast Guard Rescues 5 from Burning Vessel
7/29/23 – Munising, MI
A U.S. Coast Guard crew rescued five people off a burning vessel on 29 July at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Lake Superior, near Munising, Michigan.
During a routine patrol around 7 p.m., a crew from the USCG Marquette station spotted smoke rising from a 30-foot vessel and quickly responded, according to a post on social media.
Boaters reported fuel smell before fire broke out
The crew was not able to extinguish the fire and the vessel became engulfed in flames, said U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Christopher Yaw: "As the flames grew, our crew transferred over all passengers on board the distressed vessel to our 29’ RBS-II. All 5 passengers were safely transported back to the local marina with no injuries," the station posted.
"No causes known. The people on board did report smelling diesel fuel just before seeing any flames," Yaw said. "National Park's service vessel did remain on scene until dusk. They weren't able to secure the vessel to anything because it was against the rocks. ..."It looks like they were just out enjoying a trip and something went wrong to cause a fire on the vessel," Yaw said.
The U.S. Coast Guard Great Lakes tweeted that the vessel contained up to 250 gallons of diesel. Coast Guard pollution responders and the National Park Service were monitoring the area, while the vessel’s owner worked on a salvage plan with their insurance company, the Coast Guard said.
No Injuries Reported in Wisconsin Boat Fire
7/29/23 – Madison WI
A group of people boating on Wisconsin’s Lake Monona were rescued and brought to dry land on 29 July, after a massive fire broke out on their boat just off Madison’s Olbrich Park.
Authorities reported that the first call came in at 6:20 pm, with the Madison Fire Department and Dane County Sheriff’s Department boat patrol responding shortly after. Footage revealed a huge plume of black smoke from the boat.
No injuries were reported and everyone was able to get off the boat safely, while the cause of the fire remained under investigation.
Coast Guard Rescues 4 on Disabled Vessel in Delaware River
7/30/23 – Portsmouth, VA
The Coast Guard rescued four people on 30 July after their 12-foot vessel became disabled and adrift near Chester Island, in Gloucester County, New Jersey.
The owner and operator of the aluminum vessel contacted watchstanders at the Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay command center to report that their vessel was disabled near Chester Island with four people aboard.
Coast Guard stresses need for PFDs, communication device
They said they were not wearing lifejackets and two of the people aboard were teenagers, ages 14 and 18. Coast Guard Station Philadelphia launched a 29-foot Response Boat crew to assist, but shoal water prevented the rescue crew from reaching the disabled vessel.
Gloucester Fire and Police Department personnel also deployed to help with their shallow water vessel but were unable to reach the adrift vessel.
After the vessel drifted into deeper water, the Coast Guard took the vessel with four people aboard into a side tow and transferred them to Golden Point Marina in Essington, Pennsylvania.
Once on shore, it was discovered that the vessel was unregistered, had no hull identification number and no life jackets or sound producing device. “Fortunately, these four people made it safely back to shore, but they were incredibly lucky,” said Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Zangle, the search and rescue mission coordinator for Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay.
“Not having life jackets or a reliable means of communication aboard their disabled vessel could have easily turned their voyage into a tragedy,” he added. “To meet Coast Guard requirements, and ensure the safety of your friends and family, a recreational vessel must have a Coast Guard approved lifejacket aboard for each person.”
2 Hurt by Propellers at Boating Event on New Jersey’s Barnegat Bay
7/29, 7/30/23 – Ocean Co., NJ
Two men were hurt by propellers during a two-day popular boating event in New Jersey’s Barnegat Bay over the weekend of 29 and 30 July, police said.
Both incidents occurred during the annual Floats and Boats festival, which dubs itself “the biggest float festival at the Jersey Shore,” according to the event’s website. The festival is held at Tices Shoal, a shallow area of water in the bay near Island Beach State Park, just south of Seaside Park in Ocean County. The shoal can only be accessed by water.
The first propeller strike happened on 29 July at 1:40 p.m. when a man was struck on the leg and airlifted to Atlantic City Medical Center, according to the New Jersey State Police. The second incident occurred the following day at 3:40 p.m., when a 34-year-old man was hit in the abdomen by a propeller and was rushed to Jersey Shore University Medical Center, police said.
The driver of the boat, a 38-year-old Newark man, was charged with boating under the influence, police said. The conditions of the two people injured were not released by police. According to local news reports, the event was attended by thousands and was packed with at least 2,000 boats and inflatables.
Man, 69, Drowns After Being Thrown from Boat in Storm
7/29/23 - Anderson Co., SC
A South Carolina boater trying to return to the dock during a storm was thrown overboard and drowned, officials said.
Drowned boater not wearing PFD
The evening of 29 July, 69-year-old Darrell Hewett had taken his boat out for a ride on Lake Hartwell, according to a report from the Anderson County coroner’s office. He got caught in a storm and was heading back to the dock when his boat hit rough water. He stood up and was thrown from his boat, the report says.
The Simpsonville resident was reportedly not wearing a life jacket. Bystanders trying to get to the dock during the storm found and removed Hewett from the water, according to the coroner’s office. When first responders arrived, he was pronounced dead.
Sheriff’s Deputy Jumps Onto Runaway Empty Boat at High Speed
7/30/23 – Pinellas Co., FL
A deputy of the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, in Florida, donned a Tom Cruise hat while out on the water on 30 July, as he jumped onto a speeding runaway boat to stop its uncontrolled race.
In a video posted by the sheriff's office on Facebook, bodycam footage shows Deputy Constant with Deputy Fernandes on a boat -- both members of the Marine and Environment Lands Unit -- when they responded to a call to help the U.S. Coast Guard with a runaway boat.
Authorities said the driver and sole occupant of the boat had fallen off. Luckily, he was reportedly rescued by a good Samaritan. However, the boat kept on driving with no one at the helm, posing a danger to whichever direction it was heading, deputies said.
The USCG tried to deploy prop fowling devices to stop the boat but ultimately failed. Then Constant sped up his boat and drove side by side with the runaway boat at 41 mph, giving it enough space for Fernandes to safely jump onto the runaway vessel and control it, the sheriff's office explained. "And yes, Deputy Fernandes does his own stunts," the agency wrote in the Facebook post.
"If you don't want this to happen to you... always connect your kill switch lanyard," the post added. In the video, the runaway boat is seen driving in a curve-like direction, but once Fernandes is able to get on it, he quickly turned it off. Deputies then tied the boat to theirs and brought it back to shore.
Man Injured in Boating Accident in Connecticut
7/29/23 – Saybrook, CT
A man was injured in a boating accident in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, on the night of 29 July.
The state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), the local fire department and the U.S. Coast Guard were called to the boating accident. According to DEEP, a boat carrying a man and a woman hit a jetty. The man was transported to the hospital for medical treatment, although authorities did not release details on the extent of his injuries.
An investigation into the incident was underway.
Teen Killed After Jet Ski Hits Pontoon Boat in Virginia’s York River
7/30/23 – Gloucester, VA
A 16-year-old high school football player, Brycen Wermter, died after a boating accident on Viginia’s York River on 30 July. Virginia Marine Police said the crash occurred around 2:30 p.m. off the shores of Machicomoco State Park, involving a jet ski and a pontoon boat operated by the teen’s stepfather at the time the accident happened. “His personal watercraft struck the pontoon boat that was operating close by,” said Zach Widgeon, a spokesperson for the Virginia Marine Police.
“The 16-year-old operator, after striking the pontoon boat went underneath the pontoon boat, was injured, and was retrieved out of the water by the occupants of the boat. The pontoon boat was being operated by his stepfather, and his biological mother was on the vessel as well,” Widgeon said.
Distraught family members who were on the pontoon boat pulled the teen from the water after he went under, officials confirmed. Widgeon said they attempted to do CPR on the teen as they were coming into Gloucester Point, where emergency personnel were waiting. “When they arrived at Gloucester Point, the Gloucester County Volunteer Fire and Rescue did render aid and services,” Widgeon said, “but the juvenile was declared deceased after some time.”
The crash was still under investigation, but authorities said no charges were pending and alcohol was not believed to be a factor.