A Massachusetts boat crash Saturday during the annual Bill Giles Memorial Regatta killed a 39-year-old man and injured two other people, one critically.
The three-boat accident happened at Watson Pond State Park in Taunton, during racing competition just before 1 p.m., the Bristol district attorney's office told the Boston Globe. The regatta included high-speed hydroplanes that can reach speeds up to 85 miles per hour.
The Bristol district attorney's office identified the man who died in the incident as Mark Greene, of Moultonborough, New Hampshire, noted the Globe. Stephen Joy, 67, of Bangor, Maine, remained in critical condition Sunday at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, the newspaper noted.
A third boater in another craft, Alex Poliakoff, 72, of Richmond, Maine, sustained minor injuries, according to the newspaper.
A Taunton Fire Department statement said that one of the boats spun out of control at 65 mph, hitting one boat and crashing into another, the Globe reported. All three drivers were thrown into the water.
"We had three boats out … so as soon as the accident happened, all three boats got there very quickly," Taunton Fire Deputy Fire Chief Scott Dexter said during an interview about the boats going around the first run of the race course, according to the Globe. "(It's) the most dangerous turn. They're all bunched together."
Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Thomas Ryan told the Taunton Daily Gazette that the crash was under investigation by the Environmental Police.
The regatta features races in 10 hydroplane classes from a junior division to the D-Stock Hydros with 50 horsepower engines, noted the Daily Gazette.
The Globe wrote that the regatta, which was scheduled to continue until Sunday, ended after the accident and all of the race activities were canceled.
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