9-Year-Old From Howell Killed In Maryland Boating Accident: Police

OCEAN CITY, MD — A 9-year-old boy from Howell died Wednesday in a boating accident in Ocean City, MD, when he fell and was struck by the boat's propellor, authorities said.

Kaden Frederick of Howell was sitting on the bow of the rented pontoon boat when he lost his balance and slipped into the water, said Candy Thomson, the public information officer for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Police, who are investigating the incident.

Frederick was not wearing a life jacket, she said.

The accident happened shortly before 3 p.m. Wednesday, Thomson said. The pontoon boat, which had 17 people on board including Frederick, was sailing on Sinepunxent Bay, just south of the Ocean City Inlet and near the northern end of Assateague State Park at the time.

"He was seated and his legs were dangling over the water, and he just lost his balance," Thomson said. He was struck multiple times by the pontoon boat's propellor, she said.

As family members pulled the boy from the water, a group of first responders on a tour boat that happened to be passing by rushed to the pontoon boat to try to save the boy's life, Thomson said.

"There were two registered nurses, an EMT and two out-of-state state troopers," she said. "They tried to revive him but they were unsuccessful."

Frederick was taken to Atlantic General Medical Center in West Ocean City, right on the mainland, Thomson said. An autopsy is scheduled to be conducted by the state medical examiner's office, she said.

Family members have started a GoFundme campaign to help Frederick's parents, Michelle and Ulyssee, pay for the boy's funeral.

Thomson said authorities are investigating how many people were supposed to be on the pontoon boat, which was rented from Under the Bridge Water Sports in Ocean City by a group of family and friends.

Frederick's death was the 11th boating fatality in Maryland this summer (the body of a missing boater found in the Baltimore area Thursday brings the total to 12, she said).

Alcohol does not appear to be a factor in the accident, nor is speed likely an issue, she said.

"Pontoon boats are like big floating bathtubs," she said. "They don't go very fast, but they also don't stop very fast."

The problem, she said, is "you have a lot of inexperienced boaters who are there for vacation, and Ocean City waters are tricky, especially if you don't have good boating skills."

The waters in Sinepuxent Bay are fairly shallow, and there are all kinds of sandbars, she said. Additionally, there are all kinds of boats using the water, from canoes and kayaks to the high-speed cigarette boats.

"Your head should be on a swivel," she said.

Thomson said the investigation into the incident is continuing. She said reports that a second child was injured in the incident were erroneous.

"There was never another child in the water," she said.

A pontoon boat, by Daniel X. O'Neil, via Flickr, under Creative Commons license