BOATING MAYHEM LEAVES 6 DEAD: Careless, carefree and reckless marked numerous tragedies prior to the Fourth

BOATING MAYHEM LEAVES 6 DEAD: Careless, carefree and reckless marked numerous tragedies prior to the Fourth

NRP Superintendent Colonel Robert Ziegler, along with officials from the Maryland Park Service, Coast Guard, and Anne Arundel County Fire Department addressed reporters from several media outlets regarding the many recent water related tragedies.

Maryland State Parks, U.S. Coast Guard and Anne Arundel County Fire Department

As part of the event, Col. Ziegler and others continued to promote the use of lifejackets and stressed the importance of float plans, weather checks, and other aspects of boating safety.

EDGEWATER, MD. – Topping off several days of waterborne tragedy, some of the deadliest days in Maryland history, a Anne Arundel County Fire Department spokesman reported on July 3, 2019 that Anne Arundel Firefighters responded to a 9-1-1 call reporting two jet skiers missing on the South River.

Witnesses reported that an adult male and female left a residence in the 200 block of Edgewater Drive after 1:30 a.m. They also reported hearing the sound of a collision around 1:45 a.m. and contacted 9-1-1 shortly before 2:30 when the two people had not returned. Responders located a partially submerged jet ski and corresponding damage to a navigational aid, known as a day marker due to the fact that the marker has reflective panels on it but is not lit.  The NRP later identified the couple as Elizabeth Howle, 48, and Jeffrey Sessions, 53. The pair were operating a 2019 BRP Queretaro Sea-Doo which was registered to Sessions.  The jet ski was 12’6” in length.

The crash into the day marker took place in the South River just north of the South River Bridge that carries Rt. 2 over the South River. Both victims were recovered from the water around 5:15 a.m. after a search by the Annapolis Fire Department, the Anne Arundel Fire Department, NRP and Coast Guard. When the bodies were recovered the victims were both declared deceased.

Boaters and operators of jet skis have a responsibility to take to the water on vessels and personal watercraft with a knowledge of the area, do so while sober and not impaired by drugs and to display navigational lights and to do so while wearing life jackets. 

Jet skis are restricted from going over six knots within 100 feet of another vessel or a structure, such as a pier, a navigational aid, a swimming platform, duck blind or any other structure.

Two crabbers died when caught out in a storm in Stoney Creek in the Riveria Beach area of Pasadena, Md. They were identified as Mark Vetock, 27, of Glen Burnie and Tevin Calhoun, 27, of Pasadena.

The Coast Guard and Maryland Natural Resources Police searched for the two men who went missing while crabbing in the vicinity of Stoney Creek Saturday evening, June 29, 2019.

A good Samaritan notified watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Maryland-National Capital Region’s command center at about 5 p.m. Saturday that they found a debris field in the water 300 yards off the Brandon Shores Power Plant.

The items found included empty beer cans, a throwable flotation device, a cooler with an I.D. inside and a gas can that appeared to have been snapped off a boat.

An MNRP boat crew arrived on scene, joined by a 45-foot Response Boat-Medium from Coast Guard Station Curtis Bay shortly thereafter. After investigating the debris, both crews searched the vicinity for signs of people in distress and later found the dead men.

A drowning took place off of Carrs Wharf Road in Rhode River near Mayo on June 30, 2019.

Secret Service Special Agent Stephanie Hancock died June 29, 2019 when her kayak overturned on Spa Creek in Annapolis, and officials say she was not wearing a life jacket. The Coast Guard and partner agencies search for the 40-year-old woman who went missing after her kayak overturned off Eastport.

Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Maryland-National Capital Region were notified at approximately 3:20 p.m. by Anne Arundel County 911 that two kayakers had fallen into the water near Horn Point and that the harbormaster had found and rescued one of them.

A 45-foot Response Boat-Medium crew from Coast Guard Station Annapolis launched to search for the missing kayaker and Hancock was later found and pronounced deceased.

Coast Guard suspends search for man on boogie board swimming in rough waters of Oregon Inlet

OREGON INLET, N.C. — The Coast Guard and other federal, state and local agencies searched throughout the day Wednesday, July 3, 2019, for a missing 60-year-old man near the Bonner Bridge. The Coast Guard suspended their search Wednesday night, after saturating the search area with multiple assets and other agencies.

The girlfriend of the man told Dare County 911 that he had gone out on a boogie board to swim in the inlet Wednesday morning, but he did not return. Coast Guard Station Oregon Inlet boat crews were launched alongside an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Elizabeth City. A Coast Guard crew found his boogie board located against a span of the bridge.

Coast Guard crews worked alongside Dare County, North Carolina Parks Service, Cape Hatteras National Seashore park rangers and North Carolina Marine Patrol

“It’s especially busy as we begin the 4th of July weekend and it’s very important to be mindful of your environment and wear your life jacket as you head out on the water,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Scott Dempsey, a search and rescue coordinator at the Coast Guard’s 5th District in Portsmouth, Virginia. “In the region, there have been at least six deaths of people not wearing life jackets in the past week.”

Coast Guard presses the point about dangers of rip currents on the beaches

Simply a citation for near-fatal crash that injured two riding rental jet skis at Ocean City in 2018

In a near fatal Jet ski crash in Ocean City in 2018, the Worcester County States Attorney let Randhr Reddy Muddam, of Houston, Texas, off with a simple citation issued by NRP Officer Matt Corbin charging him with the negligent operation of a jet ski. Muddam paid the citation on Dec. 3, 2018, after failing to appear in court in October.

Alan Henney reported on WGMD radio on May 27, 2018, that a 23-year-old woman, identified as Christine Doty from Indiana, Pennsylvania, was critically injured when the Jet Ski she had been operating collided with another driven by Muddam, 45. Doty and her passenger, Michael Barnicle, 27, also from Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Muddam, were thrown into the water after the collision. According to NRP Officers, both jet skis were rentals.