Divers were back out in the mouth of the Connecticut River Tuesday searching for two people still missing after a motorboat hit a jetty off Old Saybrook Monday night.
“It’s just a tragedy, it really is, Kimberly Keinz, of Old Saybrook, said.
She lives across the street from the Harbor One Marina at Saybrook Point. The investigation and search lasted all day Tuesday. She noted the number of sirens and first responders that came to the area after the crash.
“There was a little chop but not a bad night otherwise,” said a boater, who wished to remain anonymous, who was crossing through that area after a boating trip with family.
He estimated he passed through the same area as the crash about 15 to 20 minutes before it happened.
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“Last night was definitely a dark night,” he said.
According to officials in a press conference Tuesday afternoon, they are investigating darkness as a factor in the crash, though they noted the boat had appropriate instruments.
They are also considering speed as a factor.
That boater noted he has run boats in and out of Old Saybrook his whole life, and understands the breakwater is hard to see, especially on a particularly dark night.
“The lighthouse and the inner light right behind it, which I think some people may confuse with the inlet of the river that your home and they don’t realize you aren’t home,” he said.
Though Encon police said the channel is properly marked, it's also part of the investigation.
“They are marked, and it's something we are looking into,” Captain Keith Williams with Connecticut Environmental Conservation Police said.
Last year, on Labor Day weekend, four were injured in a similar crash. A boat crashed into the breakwater.
A few weeks before that at the end of July, another boat crashed on a jetty at the mouth of the river. A man was sent to the hospital in that crash.
“It doesn’t happen that often, but we have had a few in the last couple of years,” Captain Williams said.
Some stopping by Tuesday wondered what could be done along the channel to prevent this from happening again. As did the boater passing through ahead of the crash.
“I don’t know if they can do anything to improve that wall to light it up,” he said.
While investigators determine the cause and how to keep these crashes from happening in the future, those stopping by the boat recovery said they are thinking of the family.
“You hate to see any incident, any tragedy where there is loss of life,” Keinz said.
Even though boating season is winding down, officials are still offering the reminder to always have the appropriate life jackets on board and always make sure your instruments are working, and you are familiar with them.
