Briefly in the news

Four people had to be taken to Hoag Hospital on Sunday after a

sailboat collided with their rental boat at the entrance to Newport

Harbor, officials said.

The collision occurred at 11:20 a.m. Sunday as the 33-foot sailboat

named “Pussycat,� driven by Corona del Mar resident John Szalay, crashed

into the right side of the 10-foot fiberglass rental boat while the four

passengers fished off its side, said Sgt. John Whitman of the Orange

County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol.

Szalay apparently didn’t see the rental boat, which capsized and sent

Giovanni Narro of Anaheim, and Stanton residents Oscar Barron, Oscar

Barron, Jr., and Hector Gutierrez into the water, where they were

eventually picked up by patrol boats and transported to Hoag Hospital.

“They no visible injuries,� Whitman said, noting that they complained

of pain.

Deputies from the Harbor Patrol, as well as Newport Beach fire and

police boats responded, to the scene.

The rental boat received major damage to its right side. The Pussycat

received only minor damage to its front, Whitman said.

Posted speed in the harbor is 5 miles per hour. There was no word on

the speed of Szalay’s boat at the time of the accident.