boats
A capsized boat on the Ohio River resulted in the deaths of two people, with three still missing. The Fourth of July holiday weekend has seen many boating accidents in the past. Reuters/Lee Celano

Two people were dead and three missing Sunday in a Kentucky boat accident, ABC News reported. Nine people were aboard when the pontoon boat accident occurred. The group had rented the boat around 8 p.m. EDT Saturday and set off on the Ohio River near Louisville, ABC News reported. The accident was reported just before 9:30 p.m.

The pontoon was found capsized and pinned beneath a work barge by a responding fire boat. Louisville Fire Chief Greg Frederick said four people were rescued shortly before 10 p.m. with nonlife-threatening injuries, three of whom were children wearing life jackets, the Associated Press reported.

The two dead were a 14-year-old boy and an adult, ABC News reported. The people missing include two adults and one child, and the Coast Guard said rescue crews spent the day searching the river and would continue until dark with the help of the Civil Air Patrol, the AP reported. Frederick said the current of the river is too strong and there is too much debris to be able to send divers in to help with the search.

The barge where the pontoon was found was around a mile upstream around the Clark Memorial Bridge.

"There is a new bridge being constructed near Interstate 65, and at the base of the new bridge tower is a work platform that is like a small barge," Frederick said, according to ABC News. “Due to the rain, the river is extremely hazardous.”

Boating accidents are fairly common on the Fourth of July weekend. Last year, a boating accident in Miami resulted in four deaths when three boats collided at high speeds, CBS Miami reported.

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