Coast Guard Urges Boating Safety After 9 Deaths

Coast Guard officials are urging boaters to keep safety in mind following nine deaths in two weeks in the Mid-Atlantic.

The Coast Guard says the latest death occurred Saturday in Ocean City, Maryland when a pleasure craft capsized at the mouth of the Ocean City Inlet. The recent spate of deaths also includes the May 30 drowning of a 42-year-old man who jumped into Virginia’s James River from a sailboat without a lifejacket and two people who were killed when their speedboat struck a seawall on Virginia’s Rappahannock River.

Dennis Sens, a recreational boating safety specialist for the Coast Guard’s 5th District, says boating and swimming in tidal waters always carries a certain amount of risk and boaters should consider how to be safe while on the water.