Witness of deadly Ontario boat crash says it was a matter of ‘when, not if’
For one lake resident, the circumstances of a May long weekend fatal boat crash north of Kingston, Ont., were not an unlucky event – but an inevitability.
Tony Hammond’s family has been going to the area for over 40 years, with Hammond living along the water for the last 20.
However, over the last 15 years, he and other neighbours say speeding has meant the waterway has become less safe – a general factor Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) say they are investigating.
“The behaviour of so many boats in the channel had, as the population on the channel has grown over the last 15, 20 years, turned this scenario into a when, not if,” Hammond said.
Just after 9:30 p.m. on May 18, three young adults were killed and five other people were injured after a speedboat ended up on top of a fishing boat in Bobs Lake, north of Kingston.
The crash occurred on a narrow channel that connects Bobs Lake and Buck Bay, which Hammond overlooks when he is sitting on the deck of his home.
That’s where he was when he said he saw a group of young people listening to music onboard a boat, which wasn’t far from its dock, when he heard another boat approaching.
Everything was happening so fast, Hammond said, that he did not have time to react.
“I was just hoping not to hear the crunch, and then I heard the crunch,” he said.
“Before any of the actual first responders (arrived), everyone was doing what they could. There’s no way to describe it, except that anyone who ever hears it knows that sound is go time.”
Bob Main, who also has a cottage on the lake, says he was watching TV with his family, their screen door open to let a breeze in, when they heard the loud crash.
Main said speeding can be an issue on the lake.
“It’s very narrow between here and
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