A pontoon boat and a personal watercraft (PWC)– both rented– collided Tuesday evening on Sinepuxent Bay in Ocean City, sending three people to the hospital.
U.S. Coast Guard Station Ocean City responded to the crash near the Marsh Harbor Marina, after a call from a good Samaritan around 5:20 p.m. Tuesday.
Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP) tell Bay Bulletin, the pontoon boat, rented from Under the Bridge Rentals, was adrift when the operator of a PWC rented from Inlet SeaDoo “ran into the stern of the pontoon boat.”
A 48-year-old man, eight-year-old girl, and ten-year-old boy on the pontoon boat, all from out of state, were injured.
USCG’s 24-foot Special Purpose Craft-Shallow Water boat crew got the victims to shore, where local EMS was waiting. NRP says none of the injuries was life-threatening.
“One good thing to come out of this was that all the children aboard had their life jackets on,” said USCG Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Zanoni, a member of the responding boatcrew. “It could have been much worse.”
NRP is investigating the crash.
-Meg Walburn Viviano
