BRADY TWP — The early-morning boat crash on the Allegheny River near East Brady which killed three men and injured a fourth Saturday happened on a relatively safe, but busy stretch of the river, authorities said.

An investigation into the crash, which killed Chad Wilson, 34, of Prospect; Joe Wrbas Jr., 48, of Butler; and Timothy Jones, 62, of Tarentum, is ongoing.

Clarion County Coroner Terry Shaffer said that autopsies done Monday in Erie determined that two of the men, Wrbas and Wilson, died of blunt force trauma they suffered during the crash.

Wrbas suffered injuries to his face and neck, Shaffer said, and “probably died almost instantly” from a fracture to the C3 vertebrae of his spinal cord.

Wilson suffered injuries to his head and trunk, Shaffer said, which was the major cause of his death but also was complicated by aspiration of river water into his lungs.

Jones also suffered major injuries, Shaffer said, but died of drowning.

The deaths of all three men were ruled accidental, Shaffer said. His office still is awaiting the results of toxicology reports that will take at least eight weeks to be done.

Capt. Tom Edwards of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission’s regional office in Crawford County, said that office is still “sifting through” information from the scene of the crash in Brady Township near East Brady.

Greg Pochron, who is leading the office’s investigation, has said questions remain about whether speed and/or alcohol were factors in the crash, which is believed to have occurred between 1:30 and 6:30 a.m. Saturday.

Edwards declined to discuss any conclusions regarding the crash.

Edwards said Pochron’s report on the crash could take up to a week and a half to compile. The report will be reviewed by the commission’s regional office in Meadville before being sent to Harrisburg for a final review.

Initially, Pochron said it appeared that the boat was traveling along the river bank when it hit land, caromed along the river bank and flipped over, trapping three of the men near the back of the boat. The fourth man, who was flown to Allegheny General Hospital, was apparently trapped under the front of the craft and survived in a pocket of air, Pochron said.

Edwards said the triple fatality nearly doubled the number of boating fatalities in Pennsylvania this year, and represented the fifth, sixth and seventh boating-related deaths this year. Last year the commission investigated four boating-related deaths, including one on Oct. 29 on Lake Arthur.

From 2005 to 2015, Pennsylvania had 146 fatalities from 131 boating accidents, according to a report by the commission. Four of those deaths occurred in Butler County — all at Lake Arthur.

Since 2005, there have been eight boating-related fatalities on the Allegheny River, according to the commission.