STAFFORD COUNTY, Va. — Investigators on the scene of a deadly boat crash in Aquia Creek spent their Sunday on the river.
The crash victim was identified as 50-year-old John Gregory Apherly, of Coral Springs, Fla. A contractor who was in the area working at Quantico, he was on board the 19-foot Chaparral boat when it collided with a channel marker near the mouth of the creek where it meets the Potomac River about 10:30 p.m. Saturday.
Apherly was killed instantly, and another woman who was onboard suffered injuries that did not appear to be life threatening. She was treated at a local hospital and was released.
The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is leading the investigation and is being assisted by the U.S. Coast Guard, as well as local police agencies. After collecing information all day Sunday, they concluded that speed was a factor in the crash.
Agency spokesman Lee Walker said Monday that it could take weeks before the findings of their investigation are published.
Rob Sheffield has been boating on the Potomac River since 1964, and he says the lights on some of the channel markers in the area of the crash do not work properly. Sheffield was on his boat near the scene of the crash Saturday night and watched the rescue effort.
“When you’re on your boat at night you’re going out in a black area, could I say maybe he was not going that fast, maybe. But the boat was headed into the entrance of Aquia Creek which is one of the most dangerous anywhere on the river,” said Sheffield.
Sheffield says lights on two of the many channel markers at the entrance to Aquia Creek have been out for at least two weeks. In the past, he says he’s called the U.S. Coast Guard to report them not working and asks to have them repaired, and they usually are.
Walker said the investigation into the crash was ongoing and that he could not provide any specific information about channel markers that may or may not have been lit. The fixtures are common along area waterways and tell boat pilots where water is deep enough to safely operate their watercraft.
“People who navigate use them to navigate to and from their destination, they mark major entrances to waterways, in this case to Aquia Creek, they mark water depth,” said Walker.
The popular Aquia Landing Park beach sits near where the crash occurred. It was once known as Aquapo Beach and used as a Civil War railroad depot.
There are still several wooden pylons that extend upward from the river bottom. The pylons once supported a rail bridge and pier, and Sheffield says if boaters don’t turn wide when entering Aquia Creek they could strike them.
Experience on these waters also plays a role in safety.
“The buoy not being lit, and the guy not being from the area had to have had something to do with it,” said Sheffield.
