Four people were killed and two others seriously injured early Sunday when a motor boat crashed and sank in the Hudson River near the town of Red Hook, N.Y., the Dutchess County sheriff’s office said.
The boat, a 19-foot Chris-Craft, was traveling north about 4:30 a.m. when it slammed into a concrete support structure, the sort of footing that might have held a pier at one time, according to Lt. John Watterson, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office. John J. Uvino, 26, of Saugerties, N.Y., was thrown from the boat, which sank, pulling three other people down with it. His body was found nearby.
The others who died, whose bodies were also recovered, were identified by the authorities as Robert P. Macarthur, 27, Deena C. Cordero, 26, and Jay J. Bins, 41, who all lived in Kingston, N.Y. Red Hook is about 100 miles north of Midtown Manhattan.
Alcohol bottles were found on the boat, Lieutenant Watterson said, adding that the authorities suspected the driver might have been speeding, but it was not immediately known who was driving. The Chris-Craft was just 10 to 15 yards from shore when the accident occurred.
The two other passengers, Joseph J. Vehnick, 23, of Kingston, and Jessica K. Hotaling, 27, of Hyde Park, N.Y., managed to swim to safety despite serious injuries. In the darkness, Mr. Vehnick found a barn with a phone inside and called 911, the sheriff’s office said.
“It was obviously an emergency situation, and he was doing whatever he could to find a phone,” Lieutenant Watterson said. “I believe he could walk, but he was in a great deal of pain.”
Ms. Hotaling was taken to Albany Medical Center and Mr. Vehnick to St. Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie.
The sheriff’s office said that the Chris-Craft was owned by Arthur Fiore of Kingston. Calls to Mr. Fiore were not returned on Sunday night.
The sheriff’s office said it had not determined the relationship of the boat’s owner to its passengers or of the passengers to one another.
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