Selden and Lake Grove families sue Sea-Doo maker over fatal Maine capsizing

A new lawsuit says Bombardier knew its Sea-Doo Switch pontoon boat was prone to capsizing, before it capsized on Flagstaff Lake last August, killing three

Long Island families who lost three relatives when their pontoon boat flipped over on a Maine lake just minutes after leaving the dock last August have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the boat’s manufacturer and others.

Nasir Hameed of Selden and Javed Akbar of Lake Grove filed the suit this week against Bombardier Recreational Products, BRP US, and Richardson’s Boat Yard in Cumberland County Superior Court in Maine, alleging the companies knew their 2024 Sea-Doo Switch pontoon boat was prone to capsizing and sold a defective vessel anyway.

Akbar lost his 23-year-old daughter in the tragic incident; Hameed’s wife Farhana Nasir, 53, and daughter Noor Nasir, 22, also were killed.

Greater Long Island reached out Bombardier Recreational Products for a response to the lawsuit and is waiting to hear back. GLI was unable to reach Richardson’s Boat Yard at the time of publication.

According to the complaint, the tragic trip grew out of a business deal.

Eustis, Maine, resident John Morris had recently sold a nearby business to Hameed, and invited Hameed’s family and friends to his home on Flagstaff Lake for Labor Day weekend 2025. On the afternoon of Aug. 30, two sets of siblings — Noor and Khizer Nasir and Kiran and Hassan Akbar — were fishing off Morris’s dock next to his 2024 Sea-Doo Switch, an 18-foot pontoon boat, shortly before boarding it for a ride.

Morris and his six guests — Farhana, Noor and Khizer Nasir; Kiran and Hassan Akbar; and Misbah Bibi — left the dock at 1:11 p.m., the lawsuit says. Hameed was not on the boat.

The boat, which had only 18 hours on its motor and was rated to carry eight people, was loaded properly and evenly, with four passengers seated up front and two in back next to Morris, the lawsuit states.

Six minutes later, at 1:17 p.m., while the boat traveled about 6 mph in calm, clear conditions, its front port side began to nosedive and take on water, according to the lawsuit. Morris tried trimming the motor and briefly accelerating to raise the bow — neither worked — and the boat capsized suddenly, flipping completely over in nine feet of water about 50 yards from a dock at Cathedral Pines Campground, the plaintiffs allege in the court documents.

Morris and several passengers got out from under the overturned hull and were pulled to safety by bystanders. Three passengers seated in the middle of the boat — Kiran Akbar, Noor Nasir and Farhana Nasir — remained trapped under the boat.

Noor was pulled from beneath the boat roughly 10 minutes after it flipped; Kiran’s body was recovered about 20 minutes after that; Farhana’s body was found about an hour after the capsizing, according to the lawsuit and authorities.

Farhana Nasir and Kiran Akbar were pronounced dead at the scene. Noor Nasir was airlifted to Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, where she died three days later despite what the lawsuit calls “extraordinary resuscitative efforts.”

Khizer Nasir, then 21, suffered bruising and a knee injury; Hassan Akbar, then 22, suffered a neck injury.

The lawsuit also alleges a separate hydrodynamic effect: a bow wave generated during low-speed operation that lifts the stern and drops the bow, creating a capsizing risk “regardless of occupant location or weighting of the vessel.”

The lawsuit says that Bombardier’s own warning labels and manual blame improper weight distribution for capsizing risk, telling owners not to overload the boat. The lawsuit alleges that explanation false, saying the real cause is the hull’s design.

Bombardier issued a safety recall on Feb. 18, 2025, covering 2022-2025 Switch models, directing dealers to apply sealant to sections of the hull, add warning labels and provide an updated operator’s guide, according to the lawsuit. Richardson’s Boat Yard performed that exact repair on the boat involved in the fatal accident on April 9, 2025, before selling it to Morris on May 22, 2025, the complaint states.

The lawsuit alleges the fix didn’t work, alleging that two months after the Flagstaff Lake deaths, on Oct. 16, 2025, the U.S. Coast Guard issued Safety Alert 18-25, titled “Sea-Doo Switch Capsizing Hazard,” warning that trim by the bow “can occur, especially with passenger weight forward” and that “any abrupt change in speed or direction could induce forces sufficient to cause capsizing, especially when slowing down towards idle speed.”

The Coast Guard’s accident report on the Flagstaff Lake capsizing concluded that weather and operator error did not appear to be significant factors, according to the complaint.

“One year ago, these families suffered an unimaginable loss,” said attorney Travis Brennan of Berman & Simmons, which represents the families. “Today marks a significant step for the families in holding Bombardier accountable for what we believe is a dangerous and defective boat that they designed, manufactured, marketed and sold in Maine and across the country. How many people must die before real action occurs?”

The lawsuit seeks damages on behalf of the estates of Farhana Nasir, Noor Nasir and Kiran Akbar, as well as damages for Khizer Nasir and Hassan Akbar’s physical and emotional injuries.

_{Top: Clockwise from top left, 22-year-old Noor Nasir (at left) and Kiran Akbar, 23, shortly before the fatal pontoon boat ride; Noor and Khizer Nasir and Kiran and Hassan Akbar fishing moments before boarding the pontoon; and Farhana Nasir, 53, moments before the tragic boat ride (Berman & Simmons).}