Lake Powell Boating Accident: 5-Year-Old Boy Killed Instantly After Struck By Propeller
A 5-year-old boy was killed in a boating accident on Utah’s Lake Powell on Sunday.
The National Park Service said the child was riding in the bow of the boat when the vessel hit a wave and knocked the boy into the lake. He hit his head on the boat’s propeller and was killed instantly, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.
“Everyone onboard was wearing a life jacket and no alcohol was involved,” the National Park Service said in a statement. The accident took place at around 6:30 p.m. near a rock formation that borders the lake called Tapestry Wall.
The boating accident follows a fatal crash that took place on June 20. A motorboat crashed into a houseboat carrying 13 passengers. One woman died instantly, and a search and rescue team was deployed for her daughter and another woman who drowned in the crash.
The body of Valerie Bradshaw, 29, was found on June 23 using a remote-controlled robot. The body of 22-year-old Jessica Jackman was recovered two days later in 400 feet of water, the Associated Press reports. Jackman had Stickler syndrome, a genetic characterized by distinctive facial appearance, eye abnormalities, hearing loss, and joint problems.
Jackman’s father, Adrian, was the driver of the boat when it crashed. Officials believe he may have been distracted by children onboard the boat when he struck the anchored houseboat, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.
In July 2011, Lake Powell was the scene of another fatal accident involving a young boy. A boat carrying Matt Parker, a Boy Scout, three other Boy Scouts and two scout leaders struck a rock. Parker was thrown out of the boat and killed, Deseret News reports.
Lake Powell is the second-largest man-made lake in the U.S. The lake, which sits on the border between Utah and Arizona, was created in 1963 by the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam and is 186-miles long, but it was only in 1980 when the lake reached "full pool" status at 3,700 feet above sea level.
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