BRADY TWP, Clarion County — Investigators suspect speed may have played a role in a weekend boat crash that killed three men — two from Butler County — on the Allegheny River near East Brady.

Alcohol also has not been ruled out as a factor.

But authorities admit they have more questions than answers as they try to determine what caused the deadly crash Saturday morning.

The lone survivor could hold the key in unraveling the mystery, according to Gregory Pochron, a waterways conservation officer with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.

Rescuers pulled the man, believed to be in his 70s, from the capsized boat that slammed into the shore. He was conscious and alert but injured.

The man, whose name was not immediately released, provided officials with at least one clue before he was later flown by medical helicopter to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh.

“He said he had been under the boat for quite a while,” Pochron said today.

The survivor possibly owes his life to an air pocket that was in front of the upside boat where he was trapped, according to Clarion County Coroner Terry Shaffer.

The wife of one the men on the 21-foot Sea Ray ski boat discovered the wreckage and called 911 at 6:38 a.m.

Shaffer today identified those killed as Chad Wilson, 34, of Prospect; Joe Wrbas, Jr., 48, of Butler; and Timothy Jones, 62, of Tarentum, Allegheny County.

The cause and manner of deaths are pending autopsies, which are planned for Monday at the Erie County Coroner’s office.

Investigators said the wreckage indicated that the boat, which has an inboard/outboard motor, crashed into the river bank and flipped at least one time.

“The boat hit and went up the shoreline at an angle,” Pochron said. “At one point we think it went airborne and overturned.”

Authorities this morning still had not identified the owner of the boat or who was driving it.

One investigator, who did not want to be identified, said authorities found cans of beer at the scene to suggest that one or more of the men was drinking.

It appeared that the survivor, believed to be Wrbas’ father, was the only one wearing a life jacket.

Speed was a possible factor.

“There were reports that the boat was racing up and down the river,” Shaffer said.

Other campers, he said, last reported hearing the boat about 1:30 a.m.

Physical evidence suggested the boat was going fast.

“The boat may have been operating at a high speed based on the impact of it into the shoreline,” Pochron said.

The boat’s windshield was sheared off and the watercraft had significant damage.

Another unanswered question is when the men went out on the boat. The men were apparently at a camp they frequented across the river in Wattersonville, Armstrong County.