One person has died after a boating crash Sunday off the coast of Newport, Rhode Island, officials say.
A 60-year-old woman was killed when the two-person catamaran sailboat she was on collided with a powerboat in Narragansett Bay near the Claiborne Pell Bridge, according to the United States Coast Guard. The victim was racing in the New England 100 Regatta at the time of the crash, authorities say.
Petty Officer Zachary Hupp says the Coast Guard was notified of the collision at about 2:45 p.m. Sunday and learned that a female crew member on the sailboat had been thrown into the water on the Jamestown side of the bridge. Multiple agencies responded to the scene but it was the Newport Harbormaster who responded first and pulled the woman unresponsive from the water. She was later pronounced dead.
There’s no word on the cause of the crash, but officials say alcohol was not a factor.
Both boats were taken to Fort Adams State Park in Newport where a staging area was set up.
The victim's identity is being withheld pending family notification.
No other information about how the collision occurred was immediately available.
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Hupp says the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management will be leading the investigation into the incident. The Coast Guard and the Narragansett Bay Task Force will assist in the investigation.
