JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) " The National Transportation Safety Board has launched an investigation of the fatal power boat accident that killed five people " including a woman from Lake Tahoe " and injured nine on Florida's east coast.
"We are looking at the man, the machine and the environment," NTSB member Deborah A.P. Hersman said.
Hersman revealed that there were 14 people in the 22-foot power boat that crashed into the rear of the tug at about 7 p.m. Sunday near Palm Valley in St. Johns County, about 25 miles southeast of Jacksonville.
The five killed all died at the scene said Joy Hill, a spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
They were identified as Jacqueline R. Allen, 44, of Jacksonville; Robert Trenton Craig, 23, of Jacksonville Beach; Elizabeth L. Rosenfeld, 20, of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.; Inmaculada Pierce, 42, of Orange Park, Fla.; and Olivia Rose Carretero, 23, of South Lake Tahoe, Calif.,
The injured were identified as Justin Thomas Moore, 23, Melvin D. Bethel, 37, and Jacqueline M. Collins, 23, all of Ponte Vedra Beach; Karey Rae Cavicchioli, 19, and Britney Nicole Joyce, 19, both of Jacksonville Beach; and Jaimie A. Hole, 22, and Amanda Barton, 22, both of Santa Rosa, Calif. Authorities also said that Josh Moore, 19, and Frank Moore, age unknown, both from California, hometown unknown, survived.
"Investigators are looking at anything that may have caused this," Hill said. That includes the speed and capacity of the boat, lighting conditions and whether alcohol may have been a factor.