Freighter crew in fatal collision tests negative for alcohol
September 21, 2006, 2:22 PM EDT

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Five crew members who were on the bridge of a coal
freighter involved in a fatal collision with a sailboat on Long Island
Sound tested negative for alcohol, but drug tests are still pending,
the Coast Guard said Thursday.

The 600-foot freighter Barkald and the 92-foot sailboat, the Essence,
ran into each other about 4 a.m. Wednesday about five miles north of
Roanoke Point Shoals, which is north of Riverhead, N.Y., along Long
Island's north shore.

A woman on the Essence died and two men on the sailboat were rescued.
One was treated for mild hypothermia and the boat's captain was
reported in good condition.

The Coast Guard identified the woman Thursday as Gina Bortolotti, a
cook on the yacht. The captain was Ian Robberts and the other crew
member was Nardus Bothma. Their ages and hometowns were not released.
The names of the freighter's crew were not released Thursday

http://tinyurl.com/qxbuk

http://quintess.com/essence/d2621

- Allen

Kinda hard to imagine how a yacht so well equipped and a ship could collide.

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"bushman" wrote in message
...
http://quintess.com/essence/d2621

- Allen

On Fri, 22 Sep 2006 00:06:45 GMT, "Benning Wentworth"
wrote:

Kinda hard to imagine how a yacht so well equipped and a ship could collide.

Yes. I envision it as an "auto pilot" collision, i.e., two boats in
the middle of the night, going in more or less opposite directions,
both running on auto pilot, and neither boat paying real close
attention to the radar or look out.

The sailboat only had three people aboard. The cook, who was killed,
was probably below. Of the other two, it is possible that only one
was on watch, both driving and navigating. We sometimes run our boat
that way but usually only in offshore conditions. Long Island Sound
is a bit crowded for that in my opinion.