Re: Boat full of fireworks watchers capsizes near Long Island's Oyster Bay; 3 dead

My father is just beside himself with grief over this. He was there. He saw the boat earlier in the night and commented to his friend about it. The boat wasn't just overloaded, it was BEYOND overloaded. My Dad said there were people crammed on every level of the boat. The boat was top heavy. There were people on the upper levels that shouldn't have been there. He feels terribe that he didn't report it.

It's a tragic loss that coud have been easily prevented if people had used common sense.

My Dad has a boat. My sister and I cannot go on at the same time with our families. Too many people. Can we fit? Sure. But it's not safe. It just sickens me that with a captain and all those parents, no one said "hey, this isn't safe".

Re: Boat full of fireworks watchers capsizes near Long Island's Oyster Bay; 3 dead

Re: Boat full of fireworks watchers capsizes near Long Island's Oyster Bay; 3 dead

I don't know anything about boats. I've been on boats but not personal boats.

I feel 2 ways about this. On one hand this was totally irresponsible. WAY too many people on htat boat based on what others are saying. Did he not consider it would be even MORE dangerous since there would be a lot of boats on the water, it would be DARK and there are children involved?

On the other hand, i can see people saying it's just for an hour, the boat will be stationary most of the time, what's the big deal? I'm sure there were PLENTY of over-crowded boats out that night, and this was a tragic, tragic accident and an exception to the rule that "oh nothing's going to happen".

Did the boat capsize BECAUSE it was too full? Or would it have capsized anyway the children died because they weren't near someone who could help them/ didn't have life vests? Even if there weren't enough life vests, what kind of person doesn't make sure the children have them first?

Re: Boat full of fireworks watchers capsizes near Long Island's Oyster Bay; 3 dead

Re: Boat full of fireworks watchers capsizes near Long Island's Oyster Bay; 3 dead

Message edited 7/6/2012 10:41:20 AM.

Re: Boat full of fireworks watchers capsizes near Long Island's Oyster Bay; 3 dead

Today is the youngest girl's birthday. She would have turned 8 today :(

Re: Boat full of fireworks watchers capsizes near Long Island's Oyster Bay; 3 dead

Re: Boat full of fireworks watchers capsizes near Long Island's Oyster Bay; 3 dead

I truly feel so bad for the captain, but captaining a boat is a HUGE responsibility. I know some people are saying this tragedy is punishment enough and one osme level I agree, but there are SO many cases of negligence. I know this hits home, but I'm sure there are plenty of cases in court right now where people are being sued or are on trial for criminal negligence who like the captain never intended for anyone to get hurt, but took what he felt was an acceptable risk on behalf of people he was responsible for. He never intended the accident to happen, but it was his responsibility. If I don't have a fence around my pool and I figure no one will get into it, and I have a house full of toddlers for a birthday party and lo and behold one get out and drowns in the pool, I'm sure my guilt would be "punishment enough" but it doesn't change the fact that i was negligent.

it's interesting because if these kids had just been hurt. Lets say they had broken bones, I think people would be all over this saying the captain should be sued and go to jail and blah blah, but since they died, we have more pity for him.

Boat full of fireworks watchers capsizes near Long Island's Oyster Bay; 3 dead

It amazes me that you do not need a license to operate a boat. Anyone can just buy one and put it in the water without knowing anything. You need a license to operate a jet ski, but not a boat. Seems a little screwy to me.

Re: Boat full of fireworks watchers capsizes near Long Island's Oyster Bay; 3 dead

Re: Boat full of fireworks watchers capsizes near Long Island's Oyster Bay; 3 dead

Re: Boat full of fireworks watchers capsizes near Long Island's Oyster Bay; 3 dead

This is where we boat and go yearly to the Dolan firework show. We didn't go this year because I didn't feel like being out late and working the next day.

Every single year this show is so freaking packed with boats that heading back is completely insane, I am surprised accidents don't happen here more often.

Additionally from what the news reported this happened right near the "sandhole" well I can tell you that area is where the bay hits the sound and it can be extremely rough.

BUT overall I cannot imagine that many people on a boat that size. I of course feel horrific for the families, I am sure in a million years they never thought the boat would tip over.

I do not buy the rogue wave theory, waves like that don't happen in this area. It's clear the boat was too top heavy and an unfortunate wake proved to be too much. I am praying for these families.

Re: Boat full of fireworks watchers capsizes near Long Island's Oyster Bay; 3 dead

Re: Boat full of fireworks watchers capsizes near Long Island's Oyster Bay; 3 dead

Re: Boat full of fireworks watchers capsizes near Long Island's Oyster Bay; 3 dead

Re: Boat full of fireworks watchers capsizes near Long Island's Oyster Bay; 3 dead

Message edited 7/6/2012 11:49:29 AM.

Re: Boat full of fireworks watchers capsizes near Long Island's Oyster Bay; 3 dead

Boat full of fireworks watchers capsizes near Long Island's Oyster Bay; 3 dead

Latest article says that one of the children was a friend of one of the other kids. Can you imagine? You let your kid go out on a boat with her friend and THIS is what happens?

Only a late-hour change of heart sent the Treanor family and friends out into North Shore waters in their 34-foot boat to watch the July 4 fireworks, a tragic excursion that has left them with the numbing shock of having funerals for three young children who drowned that day, the family said Friday.

"It was really a last-minute decision because of the weather. It was just for the kids to see the fireworks. Because of the weather, we held back," Candi Treanor said.

Cousins David Aureliano, 12, and Harley Treanor, 11, and family friend Victoria Gaines, 8, died when the boat, for reasons not yet determined, capsized and sank Wednesday night in Oyster Bay.

The boat trip almost didn't take place because of expected thunderstorms, Candi Treanor, 49, Harley's and David's aunt, said Friday.

That's why they took to the water in the evening, shortly before the display, instead of spending all day on the water, she said.

Investigators are trying to determine what led up to the moment when chaos erupted aboard the cabin cruiser that spilled 27 people into the waters in Oyster Bay and killed the three children.

Candi Treanor spoke Friday, crying, in the doorway of her Huntington home.

"We're just devastated," said Treanor, who was on the boat when it capsized, said. "I'm going to bury my niece, my nephew and my dear friend's daughter."

Treanor said she comes from a family of boaters who go out every year to watch the Fourth of July fireworks display in Oyster Bay.

"We've been on the water all our lives. This is just heartbreaking."

She said of the accident: "It was a bad wave, and it capsized us. There were a lot of boats coming back, then there were lightning bolts."

"The wave was tremendous. It just swallowed us up. There was no warning."

She said the adults on board frantically tried to save the three children once the boat capsized. The children often hung out in the cabin of the boat, playing cards while the grown-ups occupied the deck.

The adults knew the children were trapped in the cabin when the boat overturned, Candi said. "They liked to go in there and play cards."

She said, sobbing, "believe me, we tried to get in the boat for those kids . . . It was just heartbreaking."

Harley's father, Kevin Treanor, alone and numb-eyed, stopped briefly Friday morning at his home in Huntington Station.

"I just lost my daughter," Treanor, who owns the boat, said. Then, driving away from his house sobbing, Kevin Treanor slowed his car and said to a Newsday reporter, "Thank you for your condolences."

The U.S. Coast Guard and Nassau County police have said the main focus of their investigation is whether the boat was overcrowded at a time when vessels of all kinds were departing the area after a July Fourth fireworks show.

Officials said they are trying to determine if wakes from other boats, stormy weather or mechanical failure played a role in the 10 p.m. tragedy Wednesday.

Nassau Police Dep. Insp. Kenneth Lack has said that preliminary indications were the cabin cruiser capsized off Lloyd Neck after being hit by the wake of another boat, an account supported by eyewitnesses who picked up many of those thrown into the water.

"The boat could have sunk for many reasons," said Det. Lt. John Azzata, chief of the Nassau police homicide squad.

Survivors recounted scenes of chaos as they clung to the craft that they were riding on seconds before.

"A wake got us and it turned the boat around. It just turned the boat," a teary-eyed Sal Aureliano, who identified himself as the driver, told News 12 Long Island. "I didn't see it. It was dark. It just happened."

He added: "I didn't think a 34-footer would turn. It just bellied up. . . . The next thing I know . . . everybody was in the water. Chaos."

Twenty-seven family members and friends were heading back to Huntington Harbor when the 1984 Silverton cabin cruiser capsized, officials and family members said.

People on the boat said the entire incident took place in seconds.

"We lost three great kids," Sal Aureliano, who is David's uncle, told Newsday. "It's painful. It's the worst day of my life."

He called David "an amazing kid."

The three children were found in the boat's cabin, officials said.

All three were pronounced dead about 4 a.m. Thursday, officials said.

Jim Oliva, 47, spent Thursday with the families.

"This is a tragedy you can't even imagine," Oliva said. "It's a family's worst nightmare."

The boat capsized southwest of a popular anchorage known as the Sand Hole, at the entrance to Oyster Bay just south of where it meets Long Island Sound, officials said.

The others in the boat were saved by private vessels and emergency agencies and taken to Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club on Centre Island or Theodore Roosevelt Park in Oyster Bay, police said. Most were then taken to hospitals, where they were treated and released, Azzata said.

The boat, which is based at the Harbor Boating Club, was operated by two people at various times during the evening, officials said. Azzata said there is no indication either was drinking alcohol. Police did not immediately identify either operator.

Aureliano said the boat is owned by his brother-in-law, but that he was driving it because he was more experienced. Boating records show that the Silverton was bought by Kevin Treanor in April 2011. Both Aureliano and Treanor are members of the boating club.

Manhattan-based attorney James Mercante said he has been hired by Treanor's insurance company to represent him.

Some safety experts said carrying 27 people aboard the boat was dangerous, while others said it might safely accommodate that many under optimum circumstances.

The U.S. Coast Guard does not establish passenger capacity limits for pleasure boats longer than 20 feet, leaving it up to the operators.

Officials said a thunderstorm was approaching as the fireworks show ended. The storm did not reach the harbor until after the boat had capsized, witnesses said.

Azzata and Jeffrey Moberly, boatswain's mate second class, of the Coast Guard's Eatons Neck Station, said investigators also are looking into whether there were enough life jackets on board for the passengers.

According to New York State boating laws, one Coast Guard-approved life jacket must be available for each passenger on every vessel, including canoes, kayaks and rowboats.

Children on board younger than 12 must wear a life jacket, unless they are in a totally enclosed cabin.

According to police, the victims said they were in Oyster Bay to see the fireworks display put on by the Dolans. The Dolan family owns a controlling interest in Cablevision, which owns Newsday and News 12 Long Island.

Almost a thousand boats had been in Oyster Bay during the fireworks show, officials said.

Walter Zalak, 46, of Huntington, a member of Harbor Boating Club for six years, said, "The Fourth of July in general is ugly. It's just chaos. Everyone and their mother goes out [on the waters]."

Azzata said the boat capsized in water 21 feet deep and then drifted more than a half mile before sinking in water 65 to 70 feet deep.

Thursday, Nassau Marine Bureau officers were stationed at the site as officials made plans to raise the boat to seek other evidence.

Nassau doesn't have salvage capacity, and Azzata said the department would seek the Coast Guard's assistance or turn to a private salvage company.

An examination could show if there was an equipment failure such as a through-hull valve that could have allowed water into the boat and affected its stability, officials said.

Aureliano said Thursday that "there was nothing wrong with the boat. . . . It just hit a wave, but I didn't see it. It just came, it just turned us over, upside down."

With Joseph Mallia, Bill Bleyer, Gary Dymski, Nathaniel Herz, Tania Lopez, Kery Murakami, Nicholas Spangler and David Uberti

Re: Boat full of fireworks watchers capsizes near Long Island's Oyster Bay; 3 dead

Re: Boat full of fireworks watchers capsizes near Long Island's Oyster Bay; 3 dead

Message edited 7/6/2012 12:05:13 PM.

Re: Boat full of fireworks watchers capsizes near Long Island's Oyster Bay; 3 dead

Re: Boat full of fireworks watchers capsizes near Long Island's Oyster Bay; 3 dead

this (taken from the article above) is interesting ...

"Some safety experts said carrying 27 people aboard the boat was dangerous, while others said it might safely accommodate that many under optimum circumstances.

The U.S. Coast Guard does not establish passenger capacity limits for pleasure boats longer than 20 feet, leaving it up to the operators."

Re: Boat full of fireworks watchers capsizes near Long Island's Oyster Bay; 3 dead

Re: Boat full of fireworks watchers capsizes near Long Island's Oyster Bay; 3 dead

Just found the Coast Guard policy on passenger limits:
http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg5/cg5212/docs/cg-543-11-03.pdf

Re: Boat full of fireworks watchers capsizes near Long Island's Oyster Bay; 3 dead

From News 12:

Lawyer: 10-person capacity on boat that capsized killing 3 children

(07/06/12) OYSTER BAY - Officials are trying to figure out the cause of the tragic boat accident that killed three Suffolk children.

Officials say they will raise the 34-foot "Candy 1," which is submerged in 70 feet of water in Cold Spring Harbor, either today or tomorrow They're hoping it will provide clues as to why the boat capsized Wednesday night as the group headed home from watching fireworks.

David Aureliano and Harlie Treanor, both 12, as well as Victoria Gaines, who would have turned 8 today, were all inside the cabin when the vessel capsized. Twenty-four people were rescued.

The Gaines family's lawyer Mike Della tells News 12 Long Island that the boat's manufacturer says its capacity is 10 people. There were 27 people aboard the boat when it sank.

The Gaines family hired Della to begin looking for answers. He says they are not immediately planning a lawsuit.

Meanwhile, some safety experts say overcrowding may have played a role in the tragedy. Police say alcohol and drugs did not.