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One Killed In Boating Accident
Woman, 53, Dies After Runaway Motorboat Crashes Into
Sailboat, Throwing Its Four Passengers Into The Connecticut
River

OLD SAYBROOK - A runaway motorboat whose operator had fallen
overboard crashed into a sailboat Sunday on the Connecticut
River and killed one of four people out on an afternoon
sail, officials said.

The motorboat operator, Gregory Siege, 44, of Madison, was
arrested shortly after the 3:50 p.m. accident and charged
with first-degree reckless operation of a vessel while
intoxicated by alcohol and or drugs, officials said.

The four people aboard the sailboat were tossed into the
river during the accident but were quickly taken out of the
water. The three who survived were taken to a hospital in
New Haven for treatment, said Dennis Schain, a spokesman for
the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Schain said the person who was killed was a 53-year-old
woman.

Schain said Sunday night that he was not certain when the
identities of the people involved could be released because
next of kin were still being notified.

Schain said the accident was still under investigation, and
the state's attorney's office in New London is assisting
investigators.

After the accident, which occurred south of the Amtrak
railroad bridge between Old Saybrook and Old Lyme, the
unmanned motorboat continued speeding through the water as
emergency officials tried to stop it.

A vessel from Sea Tow, a nearby marine company, was able to
track the runaway motorboat, a 20-foot center console boat
typically used for fishing, and stop it by snagging the
propeller with a line, Schain said.

Officials said the river was crowded with boaters and that
they were lucky more vessels were not involved in the
accident.

"It was crazy. It was cuckoo," said Stephen Basil of Old
Lyme, who saw boats zooming to the accident scene shortly
after the crash.

Claire Kilbride of Meriden said she and her husband were
traveling back to the Between the Bridges Marina, near the
accident site, when they saw the motorboat going in circles.

"The police were all around it just waiting for it to run
out of gas.

"It was very busy out there. There was a lot of traffic,"
she said.