Authorities said Sunday that a pontoon boat capsized on Lake Powell in northern Arizona, killing a woman and two children and injuring two more. According to National Park Service officials, the privately owned 25-foot pontoon was being towed by another boater when waves overturned it Friday afternoon near the mouth of Navajo Canyon in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, which is northeast of Page and close to the Arizona-Utah border.
When emergency personnel arrived, they discovered that some of the 11 passengers were stuck beneath the boat in the water, while others were on top of the overturned pontoon.
Glen Canyon rangers and Page Fire Department personnel help get the injured out of the water and into ambulances and helicopters to be rushed to hospitals. The Coconino County Sheriff’s Office, which also responded to the incident, posted an image of the capsized boat on social media.
Melissa Bean, 72, and two 4-year-old boys perished at the scene, according to authorities on Saturday. The boys’ names have not yet been made public. Two other pontoon passengers were still in the hospital on Sunday, according to authorities: a man receiving treatment for unspecified injuries and a 12-year-old girl in critical condition. Authorities say families from Utah and Idaho were on the pontoon when it capsized, however it is yet unknown if any of the dead were linked.
The incident is being investigated by the county sheriff’s department, National Park Service and county medical examiner’s office.
“It’s not unusual for us to investigate a death on the water periodically throughout the year. However, the magnitude of this – we’ve got three fatalities and two in critical condition – is not a common circumstance and it’s definitely tragic,” Lt. Adam Simonsen, a spokesman for the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office, said in a statement.
The National Park Service said multiple agencies helped in the operation — Big Water Fire assisted dispatch and Kane County Sheriff’s Department helped in providing information while rangers and other personnel responded to the incident.
“The National Park Service and Coconino County Sheriff’s Office express their condolences to the families,” the park said.
Lake Powell is one of many bodies of water in the U.S. West that has suffered from years of drought. In 2022, satellite images showed the dramatic impact of the mega-drought that left the lake just 24% full. At the time, the National Park Service was forced to shut down 11 boat ramps at the Lake Powell recreation area, which draws millions of visitors.
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