UPDATE: Boating Accident Near Marina Claims Life Of WV Man
A boating accident near Indian River Inlet claims the life of a 68-year-old West Virginia man.
According to Delaware State Police, the man and his wife were fishing while in their boat south of South Shore Marina late Thursday afternoon, when the man discovered that fishing line was caught in the boat’s motor.
He apparently jumped into the water to try to untangle the line, but fell back into the water as he tried to climb back in up the ladder.
A passing boater pulled the struggling man into their boat and started life-saving measures.
A Coast Guard vessel took him to shore and he was rushed by ambulance to a hospital where he later died.
Delaware fish and Wildlife Natural Resources Police investigated the boat accident.
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Multiple boaters radioed for help around 4 p.m. Thursday reporting a man who was unconscious in the water near his boat. The boater who first radioed the Coast Guard to report the incident stated that the man was perhaps trying to remove a line from his engine when the tragedy happened.
“We watched him and he was really struggling and the boat continued to drift,” he told the Coast Guard over the radio. “He was in the water. He never made it out of the water! We are not really sure what is going on,” the boater added. He also said a woman and a child were aboard that vessel.
Other boaters, Tow Boat, the Coast Guard and DNREC marine police headed to the sandbar/marsh area just inside the inlet on the south side south of South Shore Marina where the incident was unfolding.
The man was taken to the Coast Guard station. EMS crews responded there and took the man — still in cardiac arrest — to the hospital.
No word from officials tonight on the man’s condition nor what exactly transpired.
WGMD and WGMD.com will continue to update this story as info becomes available.
