Tragedy at Lake Powell today

[Heli-Doc]

Hi guys,

I don't know if anyone heard about the accident on Lake Powell today, if not, here is the article:

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=25682247&nid...cid=featured-2

This happened to one of my houseboat partners. His wife, one of his daughters and a friend that were on the boat were killed. This is a serious reminder for all of us to be safe out there on the water this year. I don't know what I would do if this kind of tragedy happened to me, it would be very hard to go on with life.

[iamcdn]

I'm sorry for your loss. Thoughts and prayers. Let's all be safe out there...

[TeamAllen]

Crazy stuff! Thanks for posting it up. I hadn't heard. I can't imagine anything like that happening?
Experiences like those reminds us to stay safe and love the ones we're with.

[chpthril]

Its sad to hear. We had 2 jet skies collide today on a local lake and a 9 year passenger on one was killed.

[jslayde1]

Very sad, I can't imagine either. Thoughts and Prayers to the families involved.

[Ewok]

Sorry that this crash happened, my thoughts and prayers for you Heli-Doc and the other victims. When the time is right, and if you feel up to it, can you share some details of the collision with TigeOwners so we may take away some lessons learned to hopefully prevent another tragedy like this. I don't want and juicy or gorey details, and I don't want everyone to armchair quarterback this crash, but if you feel there is something worthwhile to share so this type crash might be prevented I would greatly appreciate it.

Respectfully,

Ewok

[TeamAllen]

Heli-Doc,

I think there is some confusion. Was the accident that happened to your houseboat partner's family THIS accident yesterday?

[shawndoggy]

holy cow that is awful. Life can change in the blink of an eye. Make sure the people who are important to you know it.

[talltigeguy]

This is very sad. My thoughts and prayers are with you Heli-doc.

A good reminder to keep eyes on the road, just like you would when driving a car. When a runabout hits something as large as a houseboat, I can't help but think they just weren't looking. Any other lessons that might be learned?

[iamcdn]

Heli-Doc,

I think there is some confusion. Was the accident that happened to your houseboat partner's family THIS accident yesterday?

That's how I interpreted it.

[TeamAllen]

I guess I was the only one confused. Sorry, it just sounded like he was saying the same thing happened to his houseboat partner's family. But there were three women involved, so it makes sense. I just read it wrong. I wish I didn't have to read it at all! I can't even think about a loss like that.

[ChrisBarnes05-12-84]

I drive my boat extremely defensive. I'm watching everyone at all times. Now that my 2 year old goes especially.

[Heli-Doc]

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=25689901&nid...cid=featured-1

The news article above is a slight update. I should have been more clear on how how these people were related to me. The driver of the Motorboat (Adrian) that crashed into a houseboat is one of my partners in our houseboat. As many of you know (and my user name implies) I am in the aviation industry, it's a very small world. The pilot that flew Adrian and his grand-daughter to the hospital is a friend of mine, we used to work for the same company until about a year ago. He now flies EMS out of Page, AZ. He described the scene to me when he arrived, and it was pretty chaotic. The motorboat was about a 35' boat, and I imagine that it was capable of some decent speed. From what my friend could understand, the area in which the accident occured was fairly narrow, compared to a lot of places at Lake Powell, around 200 yards or so. The motorboat had to swerve due to another boat that was heading in its path. After the motorboat swerved to avoid that boat, it put him too close to a houseboat, he then swerved hard to the left, and hit the houseboat with a kind of glancing blow on the aft right hand side of the houseboat. Due to the amount of list in the motorboat at the time because of the hard left hand turn it was making to try and avoid hitting the houseboat, it flipped the boat over, and the boat was upside down in the water with fiberglass sections scattered everywhere. His wife died on the scene, and his daughter and another girl are missing still, presumed to be dead. The area where the accident occured was in about 400' of water. There were quite a few people on the motorboatat the time, I think between 10-13 people. Three died, two were airlifted to a hospital in Flagstaff, the others were transported to the Page hospital. No one on the houseboat was injured. Very sad to hear of this happening, Adrian is a great person, and I can't imagine what he is going through at this time.

(Please keep in mind that some of the information posted above may not necessarily be exactly what happened with regards to how the accident occured, it's just what my friend told me. I'm sure that as time goes by, more details of what exactly happened will come out)

[zroutt]

Our hearts and prayers go to all involved. Such a terrible tragedy.

[bvaughn]

Wow. So sorry to hear.