Second victim of Labor Day boat crash found dead in Connecticut

OLD LYME, Conn. (AP) — Authorities on Friday found the bodies of both men who had been missing for four days after a boat carrying nine people crashed into a jetty along the Connecticut shoreline.

State environmental conservation police officers located the first body in the mouth of the Connecticut River between Old Saybrook and Old Lyme shortly after noon, about a quarter-mile (four-tenths of a kilometer) from the site of the accident, Police Capt. Keith Williams said.

The second man’s body was found around 4:30 p.m., the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said in an emailed statement.

Both men’s names are being withheld pending family notification, officials said.

The crash killed another man, Christopher Hallahan, 34, of Westbrook. Connecticut, and injured six other people who were taken to a hospital.

Authorities responded to the accident shortly after 9 p.m. on Monday and found the 31-foot (9-meter) motorboat half submerged and significantly damaged near an Old Saybrook marina where the river flows into Long Island Sound. Police said the boat struck a jetty at the mouth of the river. The cause of the crash is being investigated.

The passengers were returning from a day trip to Block Island, Rhode Island, and it appeared none of them were wearing a life jacket, police said.

The dayslong search has involved divers, drones, aircraft, sonar and remote-operated underwater vehicles with cameras, Williams said.

The accident happened near where another boat crashed on Labor Day 2023, sending four people to a hospital. Environmental conservation police pushed back at the suggestion that the spot is particularly hazardous.

The Associated Press