Crab boat crashes on jetty

Coast Guard attempting the rescue of a crab boat caught in large waves off of the Oregon coast. The captain of the boat managed to swim to the jetties. Two crew members are missing and presumed drowned.

Drunken boating eyed in weekend deaths

The driver of a boat involved in a fatal crash Sunday that killed his mother and sister was intoxicated and ran the boat aground, authorities believe.

Phil Driver, 30, drove the 31-foot Cape Horn boat aground about 2:30 a.m. on Rabbit Island, Alabama Marine Patrol Officer Mark Parden said. The 26-acre island sits just off the eastern tip of Ono Island, Ala.

Nancy Driver, 66, who lived off Innerarity Point Road in southwest Escambia County, and her daughter, Kathryn Liscoe, 44, of Pensacola were pronounced dead at the scene.

Phil Driver was taken to Baptist Hospital in Pensacola with a broken arm. He had not been charged as of Monday, but Parden said the case likely would go before a grand jury in Baldwin County, Ala.

"The first officer on the scene had contact with Mr. Driver before he was transported," Parden said. "Based on the officer's experience, Mr. Driver was under the influence of alcohol."

Click here to read the full article from the Pensacola News Journal.

Alcohol factor in weekend boat crash on Ala. coast

ORANGE BEACH, Ala. (AP) -- Police say alcohol was a factor in the boat crash near Ono Island that killed two of the seven people on the vessel.

Marine Police Officer Mark Parden says Phillip Driver of Pensacola, Fla., was steering the 31-foot Cape Horn when it slammed into tiny Rabbit Island at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday at high speed.

Click here to visit Fox17 Nashville for the rest of the article.

Missing Boater Mystery

Video from WKRG-TV5 News...

Two boats capsize in Orange Beach

(The Orange Beach Community Website file photo: Gill Net Boat)
Bon Secour man was gill-netting when boat tipped over; salvage attempt claimed second vessel
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
By RYAN DEZEMBER
Staff Reporter

ORANGE BEACH -- A fishing boat owned by a Bon Secour gill net fisherman capsized in the Gulf of Mexico late Sunday and he had a second vessel overturn early Monday while he was trying to salvage his first boat.

Both boats washed onto a section of beach crowded with tourists Monday.

No one was injured in either incident, but the fisherman, Johnny Williamson, lost pretty much everything on both boats. And the stretch of beach where the boats washed up smelled strongly of gasoline.

Alabama Marine Police Sgt. Jody Kelley said that the larger of the two boats had been carrying about 80 gallons of fuel and that it had been leaking from the boat since it capsized.

Orange Beach Coastal Resources Manager Phillip West said that because the fuel will evaporate in the sun quickly and be carried away with currents, it probably won't do much lasting environmental damage.

"There are more significant health risks than environmental threats associated with a gasoline spill of this size and location," West said. "However, it isn't likely that the spill was heavy enough in a short enough period of time to cause burns or respiratory problems for swimmers."

City officials will continue to monitor the area for oil residue, he said.

Kelley said that Williamson was out in his 24-foot-boat setting his nets just beyond the sand bar nearest to shore at about 11 p.m. Sunday.

"He got too close to the shoreline and a big wave hit him sideways," Kelley said.

Click here to read the full article from the Mobile Press-Register.

Boat Accident at Gulf State Park Pier

Saturday, November 03, 2007

By GUY BUSBY

Staff Reporter

Five people were injured Thursday night when a 23-foot boat traveling about 30 mph hit unlit pilings left exposed since 2004 when Hurricane Ivan damaged the Alabama Gulf State Park pier, marine police said Friday.

The Formula-brand vessel was returning to the Orange Beach Marina from a fishing trip to an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico when it struck the west side of the pilings at around 7:50 p.m., said Alabama Marine Police Officer Richard Miller.

Four of the five people were taken to South Baldwin Regional Medical Center in Foley, Miller said. Thomas P. Brown of Orange Beach, operator of the boat, had been listed in critical condition after being admitted, but his status was upgraded Friday to good, said hospital spokeswoman Barbara Boller.

Click here to read the full article from the Mobile Press-Register.

Click here to see a map where the accident occurred.