Two men are still missing after a boat crash in Long Island Sound on Labor Day that killed one of their friends and a search for the missing boaters is underway on Wednesday.
Nine friends were on the 31-foot motorboat, returning from a day on Block Island, when it hit a jetty at the mouth of the Connecticut River around 9:15 p.m. Monday, according to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection EnCon Police.
One person was found dead in the vessel. The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has identified him as 34-year-old Christopher Hallahan, of Westbrook.
Six other people who were on the boat were taken to the hospital and one of them is in critical condition, Connecticut Environmental Police Captain Keith Williams said Tuesday morning.
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Officials believe that person was driving the boat, but they have not confirmed that. Another of the six people was released from the hospital and two men are still missing.
The capsized boat was recovered from the river on Tuesday and it was pulled from the water around 11:30 a.m.
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The investigation is ongoing, but investigators are looking into darkness and speed as possible factors in the cause of the crash.
The search was suspended around 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday and resumed at 8 a.m. on Wednesday.
Officials from DEEP said that if they do not find anyone on Wednesday, the search will be suspended at sunset and resume on Thursday morning.
Officials have not identified the other people who were on the boat but said they have ties to the local community.
Multiple agencies, including police and fire crews from several nearby towns, the State Police Dive Unit, and a helicopter from the U.S. Coast Guard station on Cape Cod have been involved in the search.
On Labor Day weekend in 2023, four people were hurt in a similar crash. A few weeks earlier, another boat hit the jetty at the mouth of the river and a man was hospitalized.
