2 children killed after family boat slams into buoy in Barnegat Bay

🚨Two children, ages 7 and 9, died after a motorboat crashed into a buoy

🚨The children were riding with their grandparents on Barneget Bay

🚨The tragedy is the second fatal crash involving a buoy this year

BERKELEY — Two children died in a motorboat crash in Barnegat Bay on Sunday night.

New Jersey State Police Sgt. Caitlin Brennan said that a 7-year-old boy and 9-year-old girl were riding in a 30-foot Tidewater Custom 280 with two adults, Stephen Schneider, 63, of the Bayville section of Berkeley and Laurie Schneider, 64, also from Bayville. Stephen was driving when it struck an Intracoastal Waterway channel marker in the Intracoastal Waterway around 9:09 p.m.

The impact ejected the children from the boat, according to Brennan. The adults got the children out of the water and got them to shore. They were taken to a hospital where they died.

Brennan did not disclose if life jackets were worn by anyone on board the boat.

Video posted by EXIT 74 Scanner News shows first responders on a dock near MJ's Restaurant on Barnegat Bay.

ALSO READ: Long Branch officer stabbed while saving woman

Second deadly buoy crash on Barnegat Bay this year

It is the second fatal crash with a buoy this year.

Gunnar Pearson, 28, of Barnegat, died after the boat he was riding in slammed into a day marker around 5:45 p.m. on May 25.  Pearson and his girlfriend were thrown into the water.

Pearson was a member of the New Jersey National Guard and a graduate of Barnegat High School.

This is a breaking story. Check back for additional details.

Report a correction 👈 | 👉 Contact our newsroom