TANGIER ISLAND, Va.- A Friday night boating accident claimed the life of one Wicomico County, Md., man and left another injured. Some say an unlit navigation beacon may be to blame.
The accident happened just off the coast of Tangier Island, when a boat slammed into a day channel marker. Multiple watermen tell WBOC the marker was supposed to be lit but had been out for weeks.
Now, the beacon lays on its side in the water as a sad reminder of the tragedy.
Anna Pruitt-Parks with the Tangier Volunteer Fire Department said she was with her family Friday night when she knew she had to jump into action.
"My nephew came up out of breath on a bicycle and said there's been a boating accident and one of the guys was unresponsive and that we needed to come right now," she explained.
Crews worked desperately to save the life of 37-year-old David Bromley of Pittsville, Md., for over an hour.
He didn't make it.
"Basically, it was a very, very, very tragic accident," Pruitt-Parks said.
It was an accident that many, including the family of boat operator Robert White, say should never have happened in the first place.
According to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, the agency investigating the accident, "The day channel marker that was struck was not lighted. Apparently the light had malfunctioned at some point, but we don't know when."
"The marine police have talked to a number of commercial crabbers on Tangier, who report that the day channel marker light had been inoperative for at least the past month, and perhaps as long as the past six months but that no one had reported to the Coast Guard that their day marker light was not working," explained VMRC spokesman John Bull.
The VMRC said the U.S. Coast Guard handles aids to navigation.
The Coast Guard Sector Baltimore told WBOC, "The aid was working properly and we had no discrepancies on file prior to the allision."
"Usually when a waterman or someone knows that something is out, they report it and we're at the mercy of the officials that are supposed to come fix these items," said Pruitt-Parks.
Whether lit or not, Tangier Island Councilman Tommy Eskridge noted the beacons are charted.
"They show up on most GPS's and the radar will pick them up. They have reflectors on them that your spotlight can pick up pretty easily," he said.
Eskridge said the whole island has come together in sympathy for the families.
"It's something that could happen to any of us."
(Photo: WBOC)
