The Coast Guard was continuing its investigation Monday night into the hydroplane boat crash Sunday afternoon on Kent Narrows that killed a 7-year-old girl and left several other people injured.
The Coast Guard had not released
the identities of any of those involved as of 7 p.m. Monday, but a
GoFundMe posting established to raise money for the family identified
the child as Julianne Rosela of Chester. At that point, according to the
posting, $23,624 had been donated by 414 people over an eight-hour
period.
The accident happened at 4:45
p.m. Sunday near the end of the annual Thunder on the Narrows races, run
each year in Hog Bay on the west side of Kent Narrows. Coast Guard
Chief Petty Officer David Marin said Monday afternoon that a race boat
hit three spectator boats that were rafted in a large group of 12
vessels. The collision reportedly occurred near the beginning of Turn 1
of the oval race course.
There was no word Monday evening
as to what caused the collision. The identity of the boat operator had
also not been released at that point.
Paul Schlotterbeck, assistant
chief of the Kent Island Volunteer Fire Department, which had emergency
equipment at the race site as it has in the past, said four people were
taken to hospitals — two to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma
Center in Baltimore, one to Anne Arundel Medical Center, and one to the
University of Maryland Shore Emergency Center at Queenstown. Their names
had not been released as of Monday night.
Coast Guard Cmdr. Michael Keane,
speaking at a Sunday night news conference at Kent Narrows, said the
boat driver was treated and released.
Marin said more information would be released by the Coast Guard as soon as possible as its investigation goes forward.
Schlotterbeck said that while the
fire department always has emergency equipment on-site on land for the
races, the Kent Narrows Racing Association had its own rescue crews on
the water. “They bring the patients to land and we take over,” which is
what happened, he said. Paramedic units from Anne Arundel County, Kent
Island, Grasonville, Queenstown, and the Queen Anne’s County Department
of Emergency Services also responded, according to Schlotterbeck.
“Our thoughts are with the
injured and their families, and our prayers are also with those
families,” Kent Narrows Racing Association President Wheeler Baker said
in a brief statement Sunday night.
“We have an ongoing investigation
into the accident that took place this afternoon,” Keane said at the
Sunday night news conference. “We are receiving lots of support from the
race organizers.”
It was the 25th anniversary of
Thunder on the Narrows, which included the Eastern Divisional
Championship of the American Power Boat Association competition, which
drew many competitors from as far away as Canada and Michigan.
The GoFundMe posting for Julianne Rosela’s family can be found at http://www.gofundme.com/y4ka84c.