3 people die after pontoon boat capsizes on Lake Powell in Arizona

Three people – including two young children – died when a pontoon boat capsized on Lake Powell in northern Arizona, authorities said this week.

The deaths are the latest in a series of hundreds of fatal boating accidents that occur each year in the United States.

A woman and two children died when a private 25-foot pontoon overturned near the mouth of Navajo Canyon in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Friday afternoon, according to the National Park Service and Coconino County Sheriff’s Office. The boat was being towed by another boater when waves contributed to the pontoon capsizing, authorities said in separate statements.

After receiving reports of a capsized boat around 3:18 p.m. on Friday, authorities discovered one passenger on the boat and others in the water, “with some of the group missing,” the National Park Service and sheriff’s office said. The boat had a total of 11 passengers on board and several were trapped under the capsized pontoon.

Nearby boaters helped rescue victims from the water, and Glen Canyon rangers and local firefighters provided emergency medical care at the scene.

Authorities said Saturday that 72-year-old Melissa Bean and two 4-year-old boys died at the scene. Two other patients were taken by helicopter and ambulance for further treatment.

The two injured victims – a 12-year-old girl in critical condition and a man being treated for unspecified injuries – remained hospitalized Sunday, authorities told The Associated Press. All of the passengers were related family members, reported the Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network.

The capsizing is the latest boating accident this year, as millions of Americans spend the summer on lakes and rivers across the country. Although recreational boating remains a popular activity, authorities and experts warn of the potential dangers.

“Recreational boating is fun, but the water can be unforgiving,” the National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement.

Thousands of boating accidents occur every year

Thousands of recreational boating accidents occur each year. In May, the U.S. Coast Guard reported that there were 3,844 recreational boating accidents in 2023.

Of those incidents, 564 resulted in fatalities and 2,126 resulted in non-fatal injuries, the Coast Guard said. Those numbers are down from 2022, when the Coast Guard reported 4,040 accidents that resulted in 636 deaths and 2,222 injuries.

The main causes of accidents, according to the National Safe Boating Council, are operator inattention, inexperience, lack of caution, excessive speed and engine failure. Authorities and experts have found that most boating accidents are easily preventable by following safety measures.

The two deadliest safety failures, according to the National Transportation Safety Board, are the lack of required personal flotation devices such as life jackets and inexperienced boaters. Boating accident data has shown that the number of fatal drownings decreases when life jackets are required.

In 2023, according to the Coast Guard, about 75% of fatal accidents occurred on boats operated by people who had not received boating safety training. About 75% of deaths were due to drowning, with 87% of those victims not wearing life jackets.

The most common accidents include collisions with other boats, running into piers, rocks and similar objects, and capsizing or sinking of the boats, says Kristen Frohnhoefer, president of Sea Tow, an international maritime rescue provider based in New York.

Other accidents include people falling overboard because they are caught in the wake, do not hold on to the boat properly or are not sitting in safe places, Frohnhoefer said.

“The most common fatal incidents were incidents in which people ended up in the water. Over half of the fatal incidents were falls overboard, capsizing and cases in which a person voluntarily abandoned the vessel,” said Captain Amy Beach, Coast Guard Inspection and Compliance Director.

Other current accidents involving recreational boats in 2024

In recent months, a number of serious accidents involving recreational boating have occurred across the country, including:

On Sunday, a 31-year-old woman and a 36-year-old man died when two vessels collided in the Tickfaw River in southeastern Louisiana, WWL-TV reported. Authorities discovered a badly damaged 25-foot pontoon boat and a capsized 25-foot Sea Fox boat at the scene of the accident.
A 1-year-old drowned Saturday when a boat capsized on Fontana Lake in North Carolina, the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported. Eight people were on the boat and three were being pulled on an inflatable raft when the boat capsized, causing an accident, authorities said.
According to the New York Post, a 58-year-old man was killed and three others were injured when two ships collided in Brooklyn earlier this month.
On June 23, a man was hospitalized after falling overboard from a boat on Eagle Mountain Lake in north Texas, television station WFAA reported. A woman piloting the boat reversed the engine and struck the man with the boat’s propeller, seriously injuring him.
In early June, emergency officials in South Florida told NBC Miami it had been “a tragic year so far” after a series of boating accidents in the area, including a hit-and-run involving a 15-year-old girl in May that left a man dead. Two men also died in April when a boat and a yacht collided near Boca Chita Key, according to NBC Miami.

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