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Courtesy photos.
Madison Holley, 19, shown far left in a Facebook photo, was nine months pregnant with her unborn baby boy, Carter, when she was killed. along with her father, Cyril J. Holley Jr., 46, both of DeLand, in the Memorial Day boating accident near Disappearing Island in New Smyrna Beach. Near left, one of the boats is towed by Sea Tow to the Coast Guard Station.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The 19-year-old pregnant woman killed, along with her unborn baby, and her father in the horrific boating accident near Disappearing Island on Memorial Day, was thrown from the boat when a larger boat landed on top of the smaller crash, according to frantic 9-1-1 calls.
"She’s cut really bad and we’re trying to get to the Coast Guard station, but something’s wrong with our boat," a caller told a 9-1-1 dispatcher.
"You were hit by another boat?" the operator asked. "Yes, our boat was hit by another boat and the pregnant girl got thrown out of the boat and she’s cut really bad and she’s nine months pregnant. We need to get help right, right now... "We're trying to get to the Coast Guard Station, but something is wrong with our boat."
Madison Holley, 19, was just weeks from delivering her baby, a boy she planned to name "Carter." Her 46-year-old father, Cyril J. Holley Jr., also perished. Authorities have ruled out alcohol and drugs as a factor in the 4 p.m. Monday crash near the popular island where boats often begin to throttle up as they head into the open Atlantic waters from the Intracoastal Waterway between Ponce Inlet and New Smyrna Beach.
Instead, the focus is on heavy boat traffic and changing speed zones. On this holiday, there were lots of boats and the authorities are hoping to speak with as many witnesses as they can as to the circumstances that led to the carnage. Changing speeds may have been a factor.
"This occurred in a transition area where boats heading north are beginning to power up and increase their speed, and boats heading south are powering down and decreasing their speed," Fish and Wildlife Commission Investigator Kevin McKinney told the Orlando Sentinel on its Web site earlier this evening. "There can be considerable boat traffic, and both actions create wakes in a generally congested area."
McKinney added in the Sentinel interview that a wake from another boat may have contributed to the accident, one of many factors that will be looked into.
People on the two boats knew each other and were headed north toward Disappearing Island, just west of the Ponce Inlet-based Coast Guard Station, when the larger vessel -- a 25-foot, 1989 Chaparral -- ran over the top of the smaller boat -- an 18-foot 2006 Sundance.
The father and daughter killed were on the smaller boat, along with five others, including Helen Paige Holley, 45, the wife and mother of the fatal victims, and Jennifer Minotti, 14, both of whom were injured. The larger boat had six people aboard and the people on both boats knew each other. The boaters were visiting a relative in New Smyrna Beach, according to Joy Hill, spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission.
"Both vessels were traveling north and had just entered a safe speed zone from a slow speed zone at the time of the crash," Hill said, noting neither boat was overloaded.
In addition to the call made from the boat where the pregnant young woman was thrown in the water, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office received a 9-1-1 call from another boater: "A boat just jumped another boat."
"There's about five people in the water," the boater told the dispatcher.
"Any injuries?" the 9-1-1 operator asked.
The boater responded: "I'm sure there are."
FAST FACTS:
Florida had 51 fatal boating accidents that resulted in 65 deaths.
Monday's deaths brings. With Monday's deaths, there are 32 boating-related fatalities so far this year.
Source: Florida Wildlife Commission