Biloxi man, Ocean Springs woman die after larger boat strikes their vessel head-on
A Biloxi man and Ocean Springs woman, both 60 years old, died when a larger boat hit their smaller one head-on Friday night on the Back Bay of Biloxi.
Thomas “Tommy” Mallett’s body was recovered from the boat after emergency responders reached the scene at 9:30 p.m., Harrison County Coroner Brian Switzer said. Mallett died from blunt-force trauma, the coroner said.
The body of Nadine Sekul of Ocean Springs was recovered around 1 a.m. from shallow waters in the bay, Switzer said. He said Sekul drowned, but also had been seriously injured in the accident.
Switzer said investigators learned Sekul was on the smaller boat only after interviewing witnesses who saw the boat launch about 30 minutes earlier.
Kyle Wilkerson, interim chief of Marine Patrol for the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, said five to seven people were aboard the larger boat, which was about 30 feet long. He said the smaller boat was 24 feet long or less.
Switzer said the larger boat had just left Gollott’s Fresh Catch Seafood Restaurant on Back Bay. He said the larger boat was headed northwest to the D’Iberville area while Mallett and Sekul were motoring southeast toward the Mississippi Sound.
Wilkerson said the DMR Marine Patrol’s Criminal Investigations Division is investigating the accident. The Biloxi police and fire departments also responded to the scene, while the Ocean Springs Fire Department had a boat on standby.
“I have full confidence we will find out what happened,” Wilkerson said.
