A 51-year-old man has been jailed for four years for causing a fatal boat accident on the Vinkeveense Plassen lakes in 2014.

Arnoud H was charged with manslaughter following the boat crash at the nature and sports reserve in the province of Utrecht. The public prosecution department had called for an eight-year jail term.

Two men of 51 and 42 from Leusden died when H rammed the boat in which they were sitting with his speedboat. They were hit by the propeller and killed, while two friends, also in their boat, just survived the crash.

H sailed on after the accident. In court he said he thought he had hit a buoy or tree trunk. But when he was arrested the next day – while in his bed – police smelled alcohol and found he had three times the limit of alcohol in his blood.

Jailing him for four years, the court ruled that the skipper had not deliberately rammed the other boat but had taken unacceptable risks and shown reckless behaviour.