Lake Powell Accident 6-20-13-Releae #2

News Release #2:

Sgt. Alan Alldredge

Kane County Sheriff’s Office

6/21/2013

6:00 am

Lake Powell Boating Accident

At approximately 8:15 am, (Arizona Time), on Thursday June 20, 2013, National Park Service Dispatch, located at Wahweep Marina on Lake Powell received a report by marine band radio about a boat accident at buoy 43 near Dangling Rope Marina.   A motor boat carrying 13 passengers, 7 adults and 6 children, had collided with a house boat and overturned.  One 57 year old Female on the motor boat is confirmed deceased, and two additional females, ages 22 and 29, are missing in the water.  Other individuals on the boat received minor injuries.  The male driver and an 11 year old female were flown to the Flagstaff Arizona Hospital by a medical helicopter with non life threatening injuries.   A third person was transported by boat and then by ambulance to the Page Arizona hospital.   The remaining individuals were transported back to Wahweep Marina by boat.  All of the children were wearing life jackets.  It appears the driver of the boat may have been temporarily distracted by the movement of some of the children in the boat and did not see the houseboat in time.  He tried to turn to miss the house boat, but collided with the front corner of the houseboat causing the motor boat to overturn.  No one on the houseboat was injured.  Most of the individuals in the boat were family members.  They are from the Salt Lake/Northern Utah area.  The family has asked not to release names of the deceased and missing individuals until family members have been properly notified.

The National Park Service at Lake Powell has a very skilled and well trained dive team who worked throughout the afternoon and early evening to try and find the missing individuals.  They will return to the area Friday morning to continue searching.  The water is about 400 feet deep at the crash site.  They also have some remote camera and sonar equipment which will allow them to search that deep.

Officials from National Park Service, Utah State Parks, and Kane County Sheriff’s Office will continue working together on the investigation of the incident, and location of the missing individuals.

As we enter the busy summer season at the lake, we encourage everyone to be extremely cautious of other traffic and to always wear life jackets.