NORTHEAST HARRIS COUNTY - A 21-year-old man has drowned after being involved in a Jet Ski accident in northeast Harris County Sunday morning.
The accident happened around 11:30 a.m. as a large group of family and friends gathered on Banana Bend Marina. At the time, two people were on a Jet Ski pulling two others on a tube.
Another friend on his own jet ski tried to catch up to them and somehow the watercraft stalled or turned off, said Capt. Don Stanton with the Harris County Sheriff's Office Marine Division.
Without power, he no longer had control of the steering but didn't realize until it was too late, Stanton said.
The man tried to avoiding hitting his friends on the tube, but couldn't and hit them straight on. One of the men came up from the water right away without injury, but the other, a 21-year-old Hispanic male, slipped out of his life jacket and drowned.
His body was recovered by the Harris County Marine and Boat Rescue.
People who saw what happened wish they hadn't.
"That's a real sad situation," said Thanh Nguyen, who had just gone fishing with his kids along the San Jacinto River when a fatal accident took place.
Authorities are investigating if the man driving the Jet Ski was drinking. Currently, no charges have been filed against the driver.
Neighbors, who didn't want to speak on camera, blamed the owners of the marina for running what they called an unsafe operation.
"There's laws on river rules and they're not obeying the rules," said one neighbor.
KHOU 11 News couldn't reach the owner but the marina's manager said they had done nothing wrong.
