No passengers aboard a small boat in the Susquehanna River were wearing life jackets when an accident claimed the life of a Cecil County man, police said.
Three people were in a 14-foot-long flat-bottomed boat around 7:25 p.m. Sunday when they were thrown into the water about 200 yards south of Garrett Island, said Sgt. Ken Turner, a Maryland Natural Resources Police spokesman.
Robert B. McKinney Jr. and Barbara J. Hanson tread water until they were assisted by an unidentified person on a personal watercraft, but Robert L. Ambrose, 19, was missing when rescuers from Harford and Cecil counties arrived. He was later recovered and declared dead at Harford Memorial Hospital in Havre de Grace.
Three life jackets were in the boat, Turner said.
“The law says you have to have life jackets on board for everyone on your vessel, but common sense says everyone should wear them,” he said.
The vessel did not strike anything before throwing its occupants, police said. Turner said police have not ruled out the passengers being tossed by a sharp turn.
