LEWES, Del.- Delaware State Police are conducting a investigation related to a boating accident that left a 73-year-old Laurel man dead near Lewes on Sunday afternoon.
Police said that shortly before 4 p.m. units were dispatched to the Angola Beach Marina located within the Angola Beach Mobile Home Park in Lewes, in reference to a death investigation related to a boating accident.
Troopers said the investigation revealed that at approximately 10 a.m., two friends were traveling in a 16-foot aluminum Jon boat. Investigators said that while traveling in the Rehoboth Bay, returning from the area of the Inlet, their 16-foot boat was capsized by the suspected combination of choppy seas and wake from two passing boats. As a result, the two passengers were ejected from the boat into the bay. They were both able to obtain life vest and hold on to the partially submerged vessel.
It was reported that after being in the water for sometime, one of the passengers lost consciousness for unknown reasons. A passing boat observed the two in distress and was able to transport them to the Angola Beach Marina.
The victim, a 73-year-old man from Laurel, was pronounced deceased at the scene. His name is being withheld pending the notification of next of kin and extended family.
The Delaware Division of Forensic Science was contacted to remove the victim and to conduct an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death.