After 3 deaths in a week, police remind boaters that Barnegat Bay’s channel markers aren’t the problem

✅Three people died after 2 boats struck channel markers in Barnegat Bay on July 19.

✅State Police say channel markers are well marked, charted and lit

✅Marine officers urge boaters to slow down and stay in the marked channel

Three people died after two separate boats struck channel markers in Barnegat Bay within a week, prompting marine law enforcement officers to remind boaters that the markers are highly visible and designed to help, not hinder, safe navigation.

Investigators have released few details about either crash, but marine officers say the incidents underscore the importance of slowing down, staying within the marked channel and paying close attention while operating on New Jersey's busy waterways during the height of boating season.

Mya Bella Golabek, 9, and Sigmund "Siggy" Paul Golabek, 7, were on board a 30-foot Tidewater Custom that crashed into an Intracoastal Waterway channel marker early in the evening of July 19, according to State Police. The boat was steered by their grandfather, Stephen Schneider, 63, of the Bayville section of Berkeley. Their grandmother was also aboard.

In a crash on July 25, a 32-foot Boston Whaler carrying five people struck a channel marker in the bay. Michael T. Bereheiko, 26, of Green Brook, was pronounced dead at a hospital, State Police said.

State Police have not disclosed any additional details about either crash.

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Mya Golabek (left), Sigmund Golabek

Channel markers are well marked, police say

Ocean County Sheriff's Office Corporal James Scott told 6 ABC Action News it appeared that the boat involved in the crash on Saturday was on the wrong side of the waterway.

"They should have been more out to the right, out in the middle of the channel. I don't know what they tried to avoid, but as you can see, they ended up striking the piling," Scott told 6 ABC Action News.

New Jersey State Police Marine Services Bureau Sgt. 1st Class Karen Fahy said that the markers are not new. Boaters need to be mindful of their presence. The locations of the markers are included on navigational charts. They include large wooden or steel pilings and are lit in the evening.

"Excessive speed and careless wake can obviously cause damage and injury to others, and if you're not slowing your speed down, you create a wake that may allow for capsizing another vessel in your area," Fahy said.

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