Offending Barge anchored in a bay off Lake St. Clair, MI.

The accident occurred in Belvidere Bay, just off Lake St. Clair, near Detroit, Michigan. Sawson Bell, 36, of Pontiac; Kathleen O’Neill, 39, of Harrison Township and Joseph Hamilton, 42, of Bloomfield Hills died. Two people remain hospitalized.

The boat owner operator, Brian Lepp, 38, of Troy and Robert William Diegel, 39, of Macomb Township sustained "very serious head injuries," but are expected to survive.

Anchored in Plain Sight by Day

"I was out here yesterday; that barge didn’t have any lights," said boater Therese Kopacz of Troy. "I had a hard time seeing it, too. I’m not surprised someone hit it." The rusted steel barge remained approximately a quarter mile outside the channel to Mac and Ray’s in Harrison Township.

Macomb County Sheriff Marine deputies and detectives investigating the crash do not yet know if alcohol was a factor in the collision, or if the boat operator saw the barge before the crash.

"The Harrison Township Fire & Rescue Department tried to keep these people alive," Officer Hackel said about the effort to save the boaters.

He said the county’s Marine Division brought the Harrison Township emergency personnel out on to the bay to revive the all five of the boaters. The Division’s Reserve volunteers also assisted at the crash scene.

This tragedy once again illustrates the danger of running at high speed at night.