Boat crashes in marsh; three die

WANTAGH, N.Y., Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Three people died and four others were injured when a high-performance boat crashed onto a marsh island near Wantagh, N.Y., police and U.S. Coast Guard said.

Nassau police Detective Lt. Kevin Smith said the Hustler-brand speedboat was trying to navigate the marshy channel leading to Jones Beach in darkness Sunday, Newsday reported Monday.

Police officials said two women and one man died, The New York Times reported. The other passengers were taken to hospitals for treatment, the police said.

Authorities said the cause of the accident was not immediately determined.

Smith said he did not know the boat's speed, adding, "To hit the marsh and run up on top of it like that, you would have to be going at a pretty good rate of speed."

The watercraft came to rest more than 100 feet from the water, officials said.

Two of the boat's occupants initially reported missing were found in the marshy causeway, Newsday reported.

"The difficulty of it was the location of the boat and it was nighttime," Wantagh Fire Department spokesman Harry Loud said. "You can't get to the boat."