Another Death on SC Waters

[Bud Kennedy]

This area is in my route of travel when I am on the river.  Channel Markers are very large and can't understand how he hit one.  It was 8pm so it must have been too dark to see.

MURRELLS INLET, SC (WMBF) – The body of a 17-year-old boater who went missing Monday night was recovered Tuesday morning by a dive team with the Department of Natural Resources, officials confirmed.

The dive team recovered the body at about 11 a.m. from the water near where a boat struck a channel marker Monday night, said Robert McCoullough with SCDNR. The body has been identified as Jacob Perry Lee Causey, and he was found with an injury to his head, confirmed the coroner at the scene.

Emergency crews in Murrells Inlet were searching Tuesday for the missing boater after a small vessel struck a channel marker near the Wacca Wache Marina on Monday night.

The dive team arrived at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, and was combing the water in a grid pattern. The Department of Natural Resources was out taking pictures and gathering information Tuesday morning.

According to a press release from the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office, the boat struck the marker at 8 p.m. Two males were on board at the time.

One of the men was located immediately, the release stated. However, he suffered head wounds and had a concussion, according to friends of the victims.

The GCSO assisted the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources in searching for the second occupant.

Wacca Wache Marina is located at 1950 Wachesaw Road in Murrells Inlet.

[Mike Cork]

This highlights something many don't think about.

I'm an accomplished swimmer, if I fall out I'll swim to shore or the boat. You can't do that with a serious head injury!!!

Everyone be careful, this weekend brings out the crowds. If you go out, be patient and watch out for the other guys, odds are he's not watching for you...

[Oldfart9999]

More and more boaters join the ranks every year and none of them know about loading the boat before you pull up to the ramp, don't know how to launch the boat, the rules of the water, or how to retreive the boat, many barley know how to start the boat. The one thing they do know is that it's PARTY TIME!!! WAABAHABAHOOYYY!!!! What could possibly go wrong? Want excitement, take a boat out at noon on a holiday weekend or when the temps are very high, it'll get the adrenaline flowing!
Rodney

[Bud Kennedy]

The cause of death is being reported.  Just breaks my heart to realize that another case where pfd might have saved a life.  Be alert Folks,  PFDs and Kill Switches don't work if you don't use em

BY ELIZABETH TOWNSEND

The 17-year-old whose boat crashed in Murrells Inlet this week drowned in the Waccamaw River, according to autopsy results released Wednesday.

An autopsy performed Wednesday morning revealed Jacob Perry Lee Causey's cause of death was drowning after a small vessel he was operating struck Channel Marker 57 at Wacca Wache Marina in Murrells Inlet, said Kenny Johnson, Georgetown County Coroner.

Causey also suffered a minor head injury, most likely during the crash, according to Johnson.

The incident and its exact cause are still under investigation by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, Robert McCullough, DNR spokesman, said Wednesday.

Causey, who was an avid outdoorsman and knew the river well, had experienced some motor trouble with the boat he was operating prior to the crash, according to friends waiting along the Waccamaw River during the search for Causey on Tuesday morning. The crash happened about 8 p.m. Monday.

Anxiety swelled as many friends and family waited by the river, at times searching the dark waters themselves, prior to Causey's discovery at about 10:50 a.m. Tuesday.

A 20-year-old male friend of Causey's was on board during the incident, who was also tossed into the water during the crash; he was found immediately and taken to Grand Strand Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries, officials said.