Dead is Jason Mellor, 21, a jet ski rider, while a passenger on the boat who survived the accident, a Miss Mitchell, at last report, was being airlifted from Doctors Hospital to Jacksonville, Florida.
According to one of the passengers onboard the Scarab, "It happened very fast. Before I could alert (the captain). I tried to grab the throttle and pull back on it to stop it, but it was too late."
According to police, at about 3 p.m., four passengers, including two Bahamians and two Americans, left Nassau harbour and sailed near Athol Island.
Upon noticing an approaching storm, the captain of the vessel decided to return and berth the vessel at Sandyport.
As the boat was passing the Sandals Resort, about 300 to 400 feet from the shore, a jet ski crossed its path and collided with the front of the Scarab, resulting in the jet ski and its passengers being pulled under the vessel.
The passenger's narrative continued: "We turned our boat around and went back to the impact site. When we got there, I saw a body floating face down in the water… I jumped into the water and swam over to the floating body."
He turned the body over, he said, revealing that it was one of two sisters, Kerry and Shannan Mitchell, cruise ship passengers who had arrived in Nassau that morning.
The sisters reportedly accompanied two brothers, one of whom was Jason Mellon of New Jersey, on two jet skis. It was believed that Mellon and one of the Mitchell sisters, a 14-year old, were the ones that crossed the boat's path, while the other two followed a short distance behind.
Realizing that she was unconscious, the passenger said, he pulled Mitchell's body onto the boat and checked her pulse, but there was none. However, he continued CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) on the female until the boat reached shore.
Another passenger described the girl's condition as "very bad," with lacerations about her body.
By this time, the Bahamas Air-Sea Rescue Association joined the rescue effort.
With the rain pouring "quite heavily," the passenger reported that they returned to the impact site, but a search for Mellon proved fruitless. "We did not find him, but we saw a life vest floating in the water. No one was in it," the eyewitness said.
On a second return to the site, a BASRA team dived in and retrieved Mellon's body from the seabed.
According to a BASRA rescuer, when he arrived at the impact site, the scene "was a bloody mess."
The persons involved or who witnessed the incident were asked to give statements to police and the Port Authority, describing what they saw during the incident.
The Port Authority is holding the Scarab vessel until the completion of the investigation, while the jet ski, owned by a local rental company, remains in the possession of the Cable Beach Police Station.
By Khashan Poitier, The Nassau Guardian
