Accidents of the Week - August 19, 2023
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Racing Powerboat Snaps in Half, Drivers Survive Crash
8/6/23 – Michigan City, IN
Two people incredibly walked away from a dramatic powerboat crash at the Great Lakes Grand Prix on Sunday, 6 August.
The Dirty Money Racing team's 36-foot Skater was racing in the Offshore Powerboat Association event when it hit a wave, causing the boat to snap in two. A photo posted by the team showed the driver and throttleman sitting among the floating wreckage.
In a post on their social media accounts, the team wrote: “Today at the Great Lakes Grand Prix, team Dirty Money Racing had an unfortunate accident. Thank God above that both Rusty and Bill are okay. The boat unfortunately is not ok. It suffered catastrophic damage.”
Boater Reunited with Family After Being Stranded at Sea for Over a Day
8/3/23 – St Augustine, FL
An emotional reunion took place between family members and a man who had been stranded at sea for more than 24 hours.
Charles Gregory, 25, set sail on his 12-foot boat on the night of 3 August. Sometime after that, the vessel became partially submerged 12 miles off the coast of Saint Augustine.
A Coast Guard chopper spotted Gregory in the water on the morning of 5 August and immediately sent a crew to rescue him. Gregory’s parents said they were grateful to be reunited with their son. Rescue workers took Gregory to the hospital to be treated for dehydration, but he was expected to be okay.
Two Killed, Three Injured in Long Beach Boat Fire
8/5/23 – Long Beach, CA
Two women were killed and three others were injured in a boat fire on 5 August in Long Beach's Alamitos Bay, authorities said. Firefighters responded to the 200 block of Marina Drive after the fire erupted around 5 p.m.
Fire occurred ‘in close proximity’ to fueling dock
Authorities said the boat was at a fueling dock. "A 35' pleasure craft was well involved with fire upon the arrival of fire department units. The fire occurred in close proximity to the fuel dock near Fire Station 21," according to the Long Beach Fire Department (LBFD).
People on nearby boats said they heard a powerful blast. Clouds of thick black smoke and flames poured from the boat as firefighters arrived to battle the blaze.
Authorities confirmed two women in their 60s died, and three others - two men and a woman - were hospitalized with burn injuries. Long Beach firefighters extinguished the blaze with help from the Orange County Fire Authority. The boat was destroyed by the fire.
Investigators examined the charred vessel to determine what went wrong. "Initial reports indicated they were in the process of doing some type of refueling operation, or had just completed a fueling operation," LBFD Capt. Jake Heflin said. "That's obviously all part of the ongoing investigation."
Fishermen rescue 4 after boat sinks off Jersey Shore
8/6/23 - Monmouth Co., NJ
A group of sport fishermen turned into good Samaritans at sea on the morning of 6 August, when they rescued four people whose boat sank in the Atlantic Ocean, off New Jersey’s Manasquan Inlet.
The Gemini, a 56-foot Viking sport fishing vessel, was about 3 1/2 miles off the inlet, which divides New Jersey’s Monmouth and Ocean counties, when they spotted another craft going under, said Captain Chris Davidson.
It was 11 a.m. and Davidson had just turned off their engine when he said one of the boat’s co-owners spotted the other vessel about 600 feet away with its stern about to slip below the surface. “We literally just set up on a drift to go fluke fishing, and Joe turned around to me and said, ‘Chris, I think that boat’s sinking,’” said Davidson, referring to Joe Cabasso, who owns the Gemini with his brother, Jack. “And I turned around and I go, ‘Yea.’ The back end of the boat, you could see, was already starting to go in the water.”
Davidson, 49, who captains the boat for the Cabassos’ personal fishing trips, backed the Gemini toward the foundering vessel. He reached the four occupants as they were treading water after having jumped ship without time to put on life preservers.
“When that boat started sinking it happened so fast that the one gentleman was inside still trying to get the life jackets but another person grabbed him,” Davidson said, relating what one of the survivors had told him.
Boat sank stern-first, disappeared without a trace
A video of the rescue shot by someone on board the Gemini and posted on social media showed the rescuers pulling the survivors aboard, as the bow of their boat was still visible, pointing straight up a few feet above the surface. “They were like, ‘Thank you so much for being there, we really do appreciate it,’” Davidson said.
Ensign Josh Ledoux, a spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard, said the vessel eventually disappeared without a trace, according to an assessor who went out to the area. Ledoux and Davidson said a New Jersey State Police vessel responded to the offshore scene and took the survivors off the Gemini.
Ledoux and Davidson said they did not know why the boat sank. The weather was clear and Davidson said the water was not particularly choppy. The State Police boat took the survivors ashore at Shark River Inlet.
No one was reported injured, said Ledoux, who had no information on the sunken boat, its owner, or the occupants.
Child Injured in Boat Fire on Illinois Lake
8/6/23 – Fox Lake, IL
A child was hospitalized with burn injuries on 6 August after a boat became engulfed in flames near Fox Lake, Illinois, authorities said. The child was among a family of four out for a ride in Nippersink Lake when their small boat caught fire before 3 p.m., according to Lt. Jake Geist of the Fox Lake Fire Protection District.
The two adults and two children jumped out of the boat and made it safely back to shore near the Route 12 bridge. The child taken to the hospital had injuries described as non-life-threatening; the other three family members were treated and released at the scene, Geist said.
After the family got out of the boat, it drifted under the bridge and into the channel leading into Pistakee Lake. A fire department boat extinguished the fire, and the vessel sank as it took on water. Geist said the cause of the fire was still under investigation.
Boat Collision Causes Minor Injuries in Florida’s Seminole County
8/6/23 – Seminole Co., FL
Two boats collided on the afternoon of 6 August, the fire department of Seminole County, Florida, reported.
According to a news release from the fire department, the two boats were near the Jeffrey Slip at Mullet Lake Park, in Geneva, and collided around 1:16 p.m.
Fire officials said six people and two dogs were on the boats, with some of the boaters suffering minor injuries.
Boaters, Dog Escape Burning, Sinking Ship
8/5/23 - St. Lucie Inlet, FL
A family and their dog escaped a harrowing experience on 5 August after their boat caught fire then began to sink.
Marine deputies at the sheriff's office of Martin County, Florida, answered a call for help, saving both the family and their dog, Hank, with no injuries, but the torched vessel was lost, the agency said. The family's boat began sinking in the St. Lucie Inlet.
Boater Killed After Hitting Dredge Pipe
8/9/23 – Cape May, NJ
A 45-year-old boater died in the early hours of the morning on 9 August, after being thrown from a vessel in the harbor of Cape May, New Jersey, close to a U.S. Coast Guard station.
Christopher W. Heitman was operating a 17' Sea Hunt with one occupant in Cape May Harbor, where a dredge pipe had broken free from its mooring and entered the channel. The vessel struck the dredge pipe and both the operator and the occupant were ejected at approximately 2:20 a.m., State Trooper Charles Marchan said.
One Dead After Boat Crashes Into Home on New York’s West Fire Island
8/10/23 – West Fire Island, NY
A man was killed when a boat came out of the water and careened into a home in New York’s West Fire Island on 10 August, according to cops and stunning photos of the incident.
The watercraft wound up flipped over as it demolished part of the house’s deck at approximately 7:35 a.m. in the Great South Bay, Suffolk County Police said in a statement. Two men were on the boat at the time of the accident.
Drone images of the calamity shared by local news showed the boat tipped over, laying haphazardly under the home’s deck, more than ten yards from the water. One of the men was pronounced dead at the scene, while the other was taken to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
It was not immediately clear which man was operating the boat at the time of the crash, or what caused the accident to occur. Drone images showed lawn furniture scattered across the home’s deck with the boat on its side, some ways away from the water.
It was unclear whether anyone was inside the home at the time of the crash. Suffolk County Police Third Squad detectives were investigating.