The occupants had just left a floating bar when the horror speedboat crash occurred as the driver ploughed into an unlit pier at night, with passengers trapped underneath the hull of the vessel
A horror speedboat crash has killed six tourists after the vessel ploughed into a pier at night.
The occupants had just left a floating bar and were heading to a nearby ranch for the night when the tragic crash occurred.
The boat operator failed to see the unlit pier in the darkness and crashed into it, according to news reports.
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There were 15 people onboard at the time with six fatalities with a mother and son killed on her 36th birthday.
The revellers on the boat all came from the city of Franca in São Paulo State, Brazil. The passengers were hurled into the Rio Grande river on Saturday night (February 21).
Local reports told how several people became trapped underneath the heavy hull. Six people lost their lives, including a five-year-old child, while nine other occupants managed to survive.
A group of locals helped the survivors to safety before the emergency services arrived to tend to the wounded.
According to the Sacramento Fire Department, only three of the 15 occupants were wearing life jackets on the speedboat.
They also said that the skipper was not licensed to operate boats.
Two of the victims have been identified as Viviane Aparecida Aredes, who turned 36 on the day she died, and her five-year-old son, Bento Aredes Ferreira.
The other victims were Marina Rodrigues Matias, 22; Juliana Fernanda de Oliveira Silva Ferreira, 40; Erica Fernanda Leal Lima, 40; and Wesley Carlos da Costa, 45, who was piloting the speedboat at the time of the accident.
It is currently unclear whether they were killed by the impact of the crash or from drowning.
The investigation into the fatal crash is ongoing.
