A boat full of five young adults slammed into a bigger boat on the Manasquan River, killing one man and hurting four others—two sisters critically.
The collision happened Friday night, just before 8 p.m. One boater said he heard the crash and knew it was bad.
"It was a loud bang," John Godwin told The Star-Ledger. "It was very clear that two boats had collided with one another. It sounded very similar to a car accident."
The group was in a 15-foot skiff, headed into the inlet between Point Pleasant Beach and Brielle. The driver lost control and hit a 25-foot Boston Whaler heading out of the inlet, according to Coast guard Petty Officer Chris McLaughlin.
The crash left the skiff shattered with heavy front-end damage and the tail ripped off and the control console ripped clear out of the hull.
Godwin rushed over to help and found two women in the boat, one of them pinned under that heavy console. "I was trying to calm them down," Godwin said. "They were really banged up bad. They had lacerations, and the boat was full of cold water. They were both in shock."
Rescuers searched the water and found the three people who'd been pitched overboard. One of them, Kyle Tanis, 24, died at the scene.
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Two sisters, 19 and 22, were hospitalized in critical condition. Another woman and the boat's driver, both 24, were treated and released. The two men in the Boston Whaler were not hurt.
