A motorboat crashes in Hudson Upstate, killing four people and injuring two more.
According to the Dutchess County sheriff’s office, a motorboat crashed and sank in the Hudson River close to the town of Red Hook, New York, early Sunday, killing four persons and badly injuring two more. According to Lt. John Watterson, a sheriff’s office spokesperson, the 19-foot Chris-Craft was heading north at around 4:30 a.m. when it collided with a concrete support structure, the kind of footing that could have formerly supported a pier. Three other individuals were pulled down with the boat when it sank, and John J. Uvino, 26, of Saugerties, N.Y., was flung from it. Nearby, his body was discovered.
Authorities named the other deceased, whose remains were also recovered, as Jay J. Bins, 41, Deena C. Cordero, 26, and Robert P. Macarthur, 27. All of them resided in Kingston, New York, which is located around 100 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. According to Lieutenant Watterson, alcohol bottles were discovered on the boat. Although the identity of the driver was not immediately known, the investigators thought that the driver may have been speeding. At the time of the disaster, the Chris-Craft was only 10 to 15 yards from the coast. Despite suffering severe injuries, the other two passengers, Jessica K. Hotaling, 27, of Hyde Park, N.Y., and Joseph J. Vehnick, 23, of Kingston, were able to swim to safety. Mr. Vehnick discovered a barn in the shadows with a phone inside and called 911, the sheriff’s office said.
“It was obviously an emergency situation, and he was doing whatever he could to find a phone,” Lieutenant Watterson said. “I believe he could walk, but he was in a great deal of pain.”
Ms. Hotaling was taken to Albany Medical Center and Mr. Vehnick to St. Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie.
The sheriff’s office said that the Chris-Craft was owned by Arthur Fiore of Kingston. Calls to Mr. Fiore were not returned on Sunday night.
The sheriff’s office said it had not determined the relationship of the boat’s owner to its passengers or of the passengers to one another.
