Five people, including four from the same family, were killed in a two-boat collision at the start of the Memorial Day weekend in Georgia. The accident occurred about 10:30 on Saturday morning on the Wilmington River near Savannah. A good Samaritan called the Coast Guard. You can see its helicopter rescue video below. Six people, including the family, were on one boat. Three, including Mark Stegall, 45, from Savannah, who was charged with driving under the influence, were on the other. One person, Robert Chauncey, 37, on his boat was killed. The boats were traveling in opposite directions at the…

In a freak accident, ten people were killed when a cliff face fell onto their boats on a popular tourist lake in Brazil. Another two dozen were injured, but only two remained in the hospital overnight. Local authorities said the rock face fell after several days of intense rain the area. The accident occurred on Lake Furnas in Minas Gerais state, about 260 miles north of Sao Paulo. The lake is along a series of picturesque destinations popular in the summer, and visitors take boats out to watch the waterfalls in the emerald-colored water. Brazil’s navy sent a team to…

A 207-foot superyacht hit the stern of a 160-foot gas tanker in the Bahamas on Christmas Eve and sank it in 2,000 feet of water. The $51million yacht, Utopia IV, built by the Italian yard Rossinavi in 2018 with an aluminum hull, collided with the Tropic Breeze tanker about 15 miles north/northwest of New Providence Island. A nearby yacht rescued the seven crew on board the tanker before it sank. The Utopia IV suffered damage to the starboard side of its bow and was escorted to the Prince George Wharf by the Harbor Patrol. Maritime Management LLC, which owns the…

A man suffered a severe leg cut in a freak accident while docking a boat at a popular Fort Lauderdale waterfront restaurant. The man, who has been identified, apparently lost his balance and fell off the boat at the Boathouse at the Riverside restaurant on the New River in the Las Olas section of town. About 50 people were eating on the outdoor terrace overlooking the river at the time. He was heading for the restaurant to attend a birthday party about 2 p.m. on Saturday. When his friends lifted him back on the boat, diners could see a deep…

Six people were rescued from the water after their Bertram 25 ran into a fixed navigation aid just after midnight Sunday on the ICW near Beach Haven, New Jersey. They were taken to area hospitals with various injuries. The Coast Guard says a Good Samaritan called them at 12:18 a.m. to report hearing a loud crash and calls for help near Ham Island, which is just north of Beach Haven on the Waterway. (Beach Haven is about half way between Atlantic City and Barnegat Light.) The Coast Guard launched a 29-foot response boat from Beach Haven and a Dolphin helicopter from…

Here’s the full story from gCaptain behind a frightening video of a bridge on the Welland Canal in Ontario, Canada, crashing down on the 730-foot-long bulk carrier Windoc. Take a look: In August, 2001, the Bulk Carrier Windoc was lined up on the Welland Canal’s Bridge 11 in Ontario, Canada. After receiving the flashing amber approach light indicating that the bridge operator was aware of the vessel, the captain lined up on the centerline and maintained a speed of 5 knots. Minutes later while the vessel was half way through the bridge started descending. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2Wn2RDzsvg When the vessel was…

After a three-week trial, a jury in Rabun County, Georgia, reached a $200 million verdict for the parents of a 7-year-old boy who died in a boating accident there in 2014. It was the largest verdict for pain and suffering ever in the state. In July, 2014, Stephen and Margaret Batchelder, from Lake Worth, Florida, took their family on a vacation to Rabun County, in northeast Georgia. They rented a 2000 Malibu Response IX open-bow ski boat for a family outing on Lake Burton. The boat was going from 5 to 7 mph with four children in the bow when…