Rising Sun boater, 19, dies in Susquehanna accident

The Baltimore Sun

Maryland Natural Resources Police are investigating a boating accident that claimed the life of a 19-year-old Rising Sun man Sunday evening.

Robert Lee Ambrose and two other adults were riding in a 14- foot jon boat, an open, flat-bottomed craft with a 20-horsepower outboard engine, near Garrett Island in the Susquehanna River.

None of the three was wearing a life jacket when they were thrown from the boat shortly after 7 p.m., police said. With its motor still running, the unmanned boat circled the area.

"The boat did not strike anything," said Sgt. Ken Turner, spokesman for the Natural Resources Police. "We continue to investigate why they were ejected."

Ambrose did not resurface, police said. The two other passengers, Robert B. McKinney Jr., 30, and Barbara J. Hanson, 49, were treading water near the boat when an unidentified man on a personal water craft came to their aid.

The two clung to the water craft until the fire boat from Susquehanna Hose Co. in Havre de Grace arrived and rescued them.

The rescuers also stopped the errant boat by tangling its propeller with a rope.

Residents living along the shore and motorists traveling on the U.S. 40 bridge over the river reported the accident to the county emergency center.

McKinney and Hanson, both of Rising Sun, are the legal guardians of Ambrose, police said.

Divers from Susquehanna Hose Company recovered Ambrose's body near the site of the accident at 8:37 p.m. Police are waiting the results of an autopsy.

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