Bellport man dies after boat crashes into house off Fire Island, police say

Hours after his boat careened out of the Great South Bay early Thursday and into the deck of a home on a remote island, the survivor of a wreck that killed another man aboard the vessel found a cellphone and called 911, a fire official said.

A short time later, Islip Fire Department First Assistant Chief Jared Gunst said, he and fellow firefighters aboard a fire department rescue boat, along with Suffolk County Police Marine Bureau officers, located the 47-year-old man, identified as Christopher Cannella of West Babylon — and his two dogs — on the northwest corner of West Fire Island.

The second occupant, identified by police Friday as Phillip Sanzano, 47, of Bellport, suffered "multiple trauma," Gunst said without elaborating, and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Gunst said emergency responders transported Cannella and his dogs to Islip Marina. He was next taken by Islip Fire Department ambulance to South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore with serious but nonlife-threatening injuries.

Cannella is the registered owner of the boat, police said, but they had not immediately determined who was operating the vessel when it crashed.

Cannella told responders he'd been knocked unconscious for at least two hours, Gunst said, adding that the boater explained "he was trying to locate his cellphone and eventually found one — and was able to call 911. But, he didn't know how long they'd been there.

Suffolk Police said the 911 call was placed at 7:35 a.m.

The men were on a 30-foot Wellcraft center console boat before dawn on a fishing trip when it apparently hit a sandbar, went airborne, struck the deck and overturned, authorities said. The home was unoccupied, police said.

The island, which has a handful of summer homes, most without electricity or water, is one of two, along with East Fire Island, located in the Great South Bay between Fire Island and the mainland. It's roughly north of Saltaire and Fair Harbor.

"He didn't know how they ended up on the island," Gunst said. "But, it appears the boat went over a sandbar, over rocks in the water, over a short bulkhead and flying 25 or 30 feet before it hit a deck alongside a house. There are no lights on the island, so it's likely they couldn't even see it at that time of night."

The cause of the crash is under investigation but "does not appear criminal at this time," Suffolk Police said in a statement.

Images from the site show the overturned boat on a small island, crumpled into the porch railing of a secluded summer home.

The area surrounding the islands includes shallow waters and sandbars, which officials said can make for treacherous navigation.

A contingent of six firefighters aboard a 37-foot aluminum hull Islip Fire Department rescue boat couldn't get close to the island shoreline, Gunst said, so they jumped into the shallow water and waded ashore. They eventually found a golf cart.and used it to transport the survivor and his dogs to the rescue boat.

Islip firefighters, the police Marine Bureau unit and a search helicopter from the police aviation unit were joined by rescue boat crews from Bay Shore, East Islip and West Islip, as well as a search boat from the U.S. Coast Guard, authorities said. More than three dozen first responders were involved in the effort.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”