Child Killed in Collision at Chesapeake Bay Boat Race

7 year old Julianne Rosella

1 killed, 3 injured in Kent Island racing crash

A young girl was killed and three other people were injured during the Thunder on the Narrows boat race off Kent Island, U.S. Coast Guard officials said.

The Kent Narrows Racing Association said the boat was a Grand National hydroplane boat participating in Sunday's last race at the Kent Island Yacht Club. It was about 23 feet long and probably traveling about 125 mph when it hit spectators near Kent Island.

"One of the race boats was on course racing and struck a spectator boat," said Paul Schlotterbeck, with the Kent Island Volunteer Fire Department.

According to the Coast Guard, the driver of the racing boat lost control about 5:30 p.m. and slammed into spectator boats filled with people watching the race.

"There were about five vessels that were involved in the incident and there were some injuries," Coast Guard Cmdr. Mike Keane said.

"Four patients were transported; two by ground to local hospitals and two were transported by Maryland State Police Aviation to Shock Trauma," Schlotterbeck said.

Authorities sent their thoughts and prayers to the families of the three injured and the 7-year-old girl who died.

"With those vessels that were rafted during the race, the speedboat collided into three of them. All the 12 vessels had different rafts that were actually on the stern, tied off, and we believe the little girl was on one of the rafts," Keane said. "Our prayers go out to the families and the loved ones involved of the individuals that were involved in the event."

Still no word on what happened to the boat. Observers saw it fail to make a turn, making them think a rudder may have failed.

Another fatality on the water this week:

Maryland authorities are searching water near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge trying to find a man who went under when the boat he was in sank.

Maryland Natural Resources divers have been in the water searching for Javier Sotelo. FOX 5 spoke with Sotelo's brother on the phone and he said the family was on a boat near the bridge when the weather turned rough. Several waves hit the boat and then it started going down.

The weather can turn awful in a minute on the Bay if you're not watching the radar. I have some experience with that. . .

Some of the family had access to life vests, but Sotelo did not and stayed on the boat as it was sinking. He could not swim.

Officials say the rescue mission has turned into a recovery mission.

"We actually have side scan sonar that we're running to try to locate the subject if possible,” said Maryland Natural Resources Police Sgt. John Buchanan. “We have divers standing by if we do find something with side scan and then we'll work from there.”

 Legally, they were supposed to have life jackets for everyone on board.