Accidents of the Week – June 3, 2023
BoatTEST publishes “Accidents of the Week” as a public service for our VIP Subscribers to acquaint them with potential boating dangers and by inference their prevention.
Fatal Jet Ski Accident on Weiss Lake
5/20/23 – Cherokee Co., AL
A marine-related event involving a single-vessel occurred at approximately 10:30 p.m. on Saturday 20 May, and claimed the life of a teenager from Summerville, Georgia.
Daegen P. Vaughn, 19, was fatally injured when the 2021 Yamaha WaveRunner he was operating ran aground and struck a tree. Vaughn was pronounced deceased at the scene.
A 22-year-old passenger on the personal watercraft (PWC), Mason D. Sterner, also of Summerville, was injured in the crash and was transported to Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center in Rome, Georgia, for treatment. Both Vaughn and Sterner were wearing personal floatation devices (PFD) at the time of the crash.
The incident occurred near Cedar Bluff, in Georgia’s Cherokee County, in the Yellow Creek area of Weiss Lake, which straddles Alabama and Georgia. The Sand Rock Volunteer Fire Department, Cherokee County Rescue Squad, Leesburg Police Department, Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, Floyd Ambulance Service, and the Marine Patrol Division of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) responded and assisted with the operation.
Troopers with the Marine Patrol Division continued to investigate the incident.
Family Escape Burning Boat on Kentucky Lake
5/21/23 – Russell Co., KY
Authorities were investigating a fire that broke out early on 21 May at State Dock Marina on Lake Cumberland, Kentucky. According to the South Russell Volunteer Fire Department and the marina, firefighters were called around 1 a.m. to State Dock Marina, where a boat was reportedly on fire.
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR) officials told local reporters that a family was onboard the boat when it caught fire, and they had to jump in the water and swim away. The dock at the marina was also on fire.
If it weren’t for the quick action of the Jamestown Fire Department, KDFWR said it could have been a lot worse. The cause of the fire was still under investigation by local authorities.
St. Louis man hurt when thrown from PWC at Lake of the Ozarks
5/21/23 – Osage, MO
A St. Louis man was hurt after being thrown from his personal watercraft (PWC) at the Lake of the Ozarks on 21 May. The Missouri State Highway Patrol’s online report states that it happened at the 26.1-mile marker of the main channel.
Rommel Haynes, 29, made a sharp turn while riding a 2021 Yamaha PWC, and was thrown off. Emergency crews took him to Lake Regional Hospital in Osage Beach to be treated for moderate injuries.
Boaters saved by good Samaritans after capsizing off Florida coast
5/22/23 – Fort Lauderdale, FL
Three men fishing off the coast of Hollywood, Florida, were saved by good Samaritans after their boat capsized on 22 May.
The men said their boat started taking on water and then it flipped as one of the boaters tried to reach a bucket to bail it out. All three got on top of the boat and then started yelling for help.
“For 10 or 15 minutes, I’m screaming my head off and he’s right there and the boat wasn’t moving. Like we were sinking. I’m like, ‘Oh my God are you guys going to let us die?’ ... I didn’t think he was coming,” said one of the men.
Eventually, the people on a South Florida charter boat saw the fishermen in distress, threw them life jackets and pulled them onto their large vessel. The men were shaken up, but are okay.
Two Rescued After Sailboat Slams Into Cape May Jetty
5/21/23 – Cape May, NJ
Two people had to be rescued on the night of 21 May, after their sailboat struck a jetty while returning to Cape May Inlet, the U.S. Coast Guard reported on 22 May.
The 33-foot sailboat hit the north side of the north jetty shortly before 9:45 p.m., and according to a spokesperson, the Coast Guard deployed a boat to save the pair on board.
The boaters were checked by local emergency workers while Sea Tow Cape May, a local marine assistance company, attempted to save the boat before it sank into the water.
Three Rescued From Oil Rig After Boat Sinks Off Texas
5/21/23 – Freeport, TX
On 21 May, three boaters were saved by an exceptional stroke of luck, one only found in the oil patch: when their vessel began to sink, they happened to be near enough to an oil rig production platform that they could clamber aboard and await pickup by the U.S. Coast Guard.
In the early hours of the morning, Coast Guard Sector Houston-Galveston received a report from the Matagorda County Sheriff's Office that three men were stranded on an offshore oil rig platform after their vessel began taking on water. The name and position of the rig, however, were not known.
The sector command center issued an urgent marine information broadcast and dispatched a Coast Guard Station Freeport Response Boat–Medium crew and an HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircrew.
The Coast Guard aircrew located and relayed the position of the survivors (and the rig) to the boat crew. When the boat crew arrived on scene, the three men were taken aboard and brought to Surfside Marina in Freeport. All of the boaters were reportedly in stable condition.
Missouri Man, 80, Killed in Boating Accident on Table Rock Lake
5/25/23 – Taney Co., MO
An elderly man died on the afternoon of 25 May on Table Rock Lake, after being ejected from the boat he was piloting. According to a crash report filed by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the accident occurred at 1:30 p.m. at Martin’s Point.
Investigators said Thomas Crain, of Chadwick, was piloting a 1998 Tracker bass boat when he lost control and was tossed from the craft. Crain was rushed to Cox Medical Center Branson, and pronounced dead shortly after 3:10 p.m. He was 80.
This is the first boating fatality of the year in the state patrol’s Troop D region.
Two Rescued from Puget Sound After Kayak Capsizes
5/21/23 – Edmonds, WA
Two kayakers were rescued from Puget Sound near Picnic Point Park on 21 May.
Department of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW) officers had just finished a boat patrol and were fueling up at a local Marina, when a notification came in on the Pulse Point app, alerting of a couple who fell out of their kayak. According to WDFW, the officers had seen the two getting ready to launch their kayak a short time beforehand.
Snohomish Fire was on their way, but the WDFW officers could get there first with their boat. They pulled a man out of the water, but he told them that his wife was still adrift around 1,000 feet out. By this point, Snohomish County Marine had arrived and got the woman out of the water, too.
The couple was taken to the Edmonds Marina and treated for injuries. According to local officials, neither were injured despite being in the freezing water for over 30 minutes. One of their phones was waterproof and able to call 911 when they went overboard.
Man Seriously Injured when Boat Crashes into Bridge
5/14/23 – Craighead Co., AR
A 23-year-old resident of Leachville, Arkansas, was flown to a Memphis hospital on 14 May after his boat crashed into a bridge.
Around 8 p.m., Deputy Levi Chism responded to a boating crash on Craighead County Road 837 in Black Oak. The caller said he and his uncle, Luis Rangel, were boating near the Cockle Burr Slough Access on the St. Francis River. As they approached the bridge, Rangel’s boat hit the wake caused by his nephew’s boat and slammed into one of the bridge’s piers.
Rangel was thrown out of the boat and hit his head on the bottom of the bridge, the initial incident report stated. A medical helicopter flew Rangel to Regional One Health in Memphis with serious injuries to the top of his head and broken legs.