BERKELEY – Two young children died Sunday night after the boat they were riding in struck a channel marker in the Intracoastal Waterway near Berkeley Township, according to the New Jersey State Police.
State Police said troopers responded at approximately 9:09 p.m. on July 19 to reports of a serious vessel crash in the Berkeley Township bay area. According to a preliminary investigation by the New Jersey State Police Office of Public Information, a 30-foot Tidewater Custom 280 was traveling through the Intracoastal Waterway when it struck an Intracoastal Waterway channel marker.
The impact caused a 9-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy to be ejected into the water, police said.
State police told Jersey Shore Online that the vessel’s operator, Stephen Schneider, 63, of Bayville, and passenger Laurie Schneider, 64, of Bayville, located the children unresponsive in the water after the crash. Both children were transported to a nearby hospital, where they were pronounced dead.
The identities of the children have not been released.
Sources familiar with the incident said the family left MJ’s Restaurant Bar and Grill shortly before the crash occurred. That information has not been confirmed by the New Jersey State Police.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
State Police have not released additional details, including whether weather, speed, impairment or mechanical issues may have been factors.
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