Two killed in boating accident

VIRGINIA BEACH -- Two people died and four were injured yesterday after their 18-foot fishing boat capsized in the chilly waters of the Chesapeake Bay off Lynnhaven Inlet in Virginia Beach.

Authorities confirmed that the men were from Arizona. A family member of two of the people said the group was made up of avid fishermen who had set out onto the bay to catch striped bass. The identities of the victims were being withheld until all the families could be notified.

The cause of the accident was still unclear yesterday, said Virginia Beach Police spokesman Adam Bernstein, though investigators were looking closely at the number of people in the small boat in rough, windy weather.

The National Weather Service issued a small-craft advisory an hour after the sinking.

Bernstein said someone on the boat sent a mayday distress call over the marine radio about 9 a.m., saying a boat was sinking near the inlet, where the Lynnhaven River empties into the bay.

The Virginia Pilot Association, which dispatches pilots to commercial vessels from an office at the inlet, heard the mayday call, alerted authorities and then sent a boat of its own in search of the fishermen, Bernstein said.

Virginia Beach police sent a rescue boat, and the Coast Guard dispatched a boat from its nearby base at Little Creek and an H-60 Jayhawk helicopter from its air station in Elizabeth City, N.C.

The crew of the Jayhawk spotted the capsized boat more than a mile offshore with three men clinging to the hull and three others in the water, said Coast Guard Lt. Kevin Saunders.

One fisherman was pronounced dead at the scene, and another clung to life for more than two hours at Virginia Beach General Hospital before he died, said Chief Bruce Nedelka of Virginia Beach's emergency-medical services department. The remaining fishermen suffered varying degrees of hypothermia, but their injuries were not life-threatening.

Contact Bill Geroux at (757) 498-2820 or .