![\"Gunnar](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/19175957_052626-wpvi-gunnar-pearson-img.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\nLONG BEACH TWP., N.J. — One person was killed and five others were injured after a boat crashed into a channel marker on Barnegat Bay near Long Beach Island on Memorial Day.<\/p>\n
The victim was identified by New Jersey state police on Tuesday as 28-year-old Gunnar Pearson of Barnegat, N.J.<\/p>\n
Pearson was one of two people who were ejected into the water upon impact. The other victim was last reported to be in critical condition.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The other four occupants were transported to an area hospital with minor injuries.<\/p>\n
The damaged boat was towed away on Tuesday morning as investigators work to determine what caused the crash.<\/p>\n
Residents said conditions on the water were foggy around the time of the collision.<\/p>\n
“Visibility wasn’t great, though, today, especially around high tide. We had some weather coming through, so sometimes you get bogged down behind the fog,” said Steve Helewa of Brant Beach, New Jersey.<\/p>\n
Emergency crews responded shortly before 6 p.m. on Monday in the Brant Beach section of Long Beach Township.<\/p>\n
Witnesses described hearing a loud impact and seeing emergency activity unfold near a marina at Bayview and West Goldsborough avenues.<\/p>\n
Video from the scene showed ambulances arriving and first responders launching onto the bay. Photos taken after the crash showed extensive damage to the bow of the vessel.<\/p>\n
“We heard a loud bang,” one witness said.<\/p>\n
Neighbors nearby “felt the vibration from it,” according to another account.<\/p>\n
Six people were injured after a boat crashed into a channel marker on Barnegat Bay near Long Beach Island on Monday.<\/p>\n
Sean Stretch, who was nearby at the time of the crash, said he initially thought no one was on the vessel.<\/p>\n
“I thought at first nobody was there, but there was a guy laying down on the floor and he was pretty lifeless,” Stretch said.<\/p>\n
Another witness, Ford Hansen, said he noticed people in the water before realizing a crash had occurred.<\/p>\n
“I saw two people out there in the water by the channel marker, and I thought someone just swam out there. I wasn’t sure,” Hansen said. “Then I saw the boat actually turn back around, and I saw everyone running out on their docks and stuff. The boat was like trying to pick them up out of the water.”<\/p>\n
New Jersey State Police say six people were aboard the vessel at the time of the crash.<\/p>\n
There has been no word on how fast the boat was going.<\/p>\n
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