COLUMBIA - South Carolina has had 26 boat-related deaths so far this year, the highest number in five years, according to the S.C. Department of Natural Resources.

With the boating season winding down, DNR officials say they are perplexed as to why so many deaths have occurred. Last year, 14 people died.

"This year has been a really bad year," department spokesman Mike Willis said. "There is no common denominator there that we can point to and say, 'This is why this is happening.'"

The death toll is the highest since 1998, when 28 people died. Of this year's deaths, one was on Lake Wylie. A 25-year-old man was killed in July in York County when the personal watercraft he was driving struck a boat.

Although South Carolina's death toll is higher than in recent years, it is lower than before the state passed a boat safety reform act in 1999, Willis said. About 30 to 35 people died annually before the act was passed. The new law increased penalties for boat-related crimes such as boating under the influence of alcohol.

Some DNR officials wonder whether recent budget cuts are a factor. The department has lost about $10 million in state money in the past three years.

Willis said DNR has more than 70 officer vacancies it can't fill because money is tight. The officers normally patrol the state's waterways.

DNR spokesman Robert McCullough said the only thing officers can do is to patrol waterways and hope their presence will encourage safety.