A Sanford man was killed Sunday afternoon when the boat he was a passenger on was struck by the operator of a Jet Ski on Toddy Pond in the Hancock County town of Orland.
Ryan Conary, 26, of Sanford, was identified as the victim in a news release issued by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife on Sunday evening.
Conary, who was not wearing a life jacket, and 12 other people were passengers on a 23-foot waterskiing boat when it was hit from behind by a Jet Ski operator around 1 p.m. Conary was seated at the rear of the boat and was dangling his feet in the water when the Jet Ski, operated by a 17-year-old girl, crashed into the stern of the waterskiing boat. There was a passenger on the Jet Ski.
Mark Latti, a DIF&W spokesman, said Conary was thrown into the pond along with a 13-year-old boy, who was wearing a life jacket. The boy was transported to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor before being transferred to Maine Medical Center in Portland with leg, head and possible internal injuries. Wardens recovered Conary’s body from the pond around 2:30 p.m.
At the time of the collision, the jet ski and waterskiing boat were traveling through a headway speed area of Toddy Pond. Headway speed is defined as the minimum speed necessary to maintain steerage and control of the watercraft while the watercraft is moving.
All of the people involved in the crash, including Conary and the Jet Ski operator, were part of a family-and-friend gathering at Toddy Pond, according to Latti.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the Maine Warden Service.
Toddy Pond is a long, narrow lake in Hancock County.
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