Courtesy photos.
Far left, A tow operator readies to tow one of the wrecked boats in the Intracoastal Waterway near Disappearing Island in New Smyrna Beach. Madison Holley, 19, shown here from her Facebook page, was nine months pregnant when she and her unborn baby were killed, along with her 46-year-old father, Cyril J. Holley Jr., all of DeLand.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A 46-year-old DeLand man, his 19-year-old pregnant daughter who was due in a matter of weeks and her unborn child were killed when one boat crashed on top of another near Disappearing Island in what has turned out to be the most tragic Memorial Day ever on the Intracoastal Waterway, authorities said.
The victims were identified as Cyril J. Holley Jr., 46, his daughter, Madison Holley, 19, and her unborn child. They lived together on Hontoon Road near DeLand.
Exactly what happened in the 4 p.m. Monday accident has yet to be determined but preliminary reports show that the elder Holley's boat, a 17-foot 2006 Sundance, was landed on by a 25-foot 1989 Chaparral.
Seven people were on the smaller boat and six on the larger one. Several from both boats suffered non-life threatening injuries and were treated at Bert Fish Medical Center.
Joy Hill, a spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which is investigating the crash, said she could not confirm reports that two boats, including the larger one may have been speeding and that a wake from the third boat caused the other one to land on top of the smaller one.
Hill said the young mother-to-be was "just weeks" from delivering her baby. "It's a tragedy," Hill told reporters.
Hill said it's too early in the investigation to determine fault in the accident and whether alcohol may have been a factor. Boaters tend to gather near Disappearing Island and pick up speed heading into the open Atlantic Waters near the mouth of the Intracoastal and where drinking is less enforced.
New Smyrna Beach City Commissioner Judy Reiker, an avid boater with her husband, Guy Mariande, were on their boat near St. Augustine where they were informed by a reporter of the carnage here.
"Oh my God! That's terrible!," Reiker said. "Oh my God. That's awful. That's a tragedy of the biggest proportions."