4 missing, several hurt in boat crash on Colorado River north of Lake Havasu

LAKE HAVASU CITY, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) -
The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office is searching for four people who are missing after two boats crashed on the Colorado River north of Lake Havasu Saturday night.

MCSO said 911 calls started coming in just after 8 p.m.

According to MCSO, a Hallett Boat carrying 10 people and Sleek Craft with six people aboard crashed head-on between Pirates Cove and the Topock Marina. Both boats sank.

“Several people were pulled from the water by passing boaters,” according to MCSO spokeswoman Anita Mortensen.

A “critically injured” woman was flown to a hospital in Las Vegas, Mortensen said. Nine other people were taken to area hospitals by ground ambulances.

The four people who are missing were aboard the Hallett Boat, according to Mortensen.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office is assisting with the search.

Both MCSO and SBCSO are asking boaters to steer clear of the area.

Lake Havasu City is a little more than three hours northwest of Phoenix via Interstate 10 and about four hours vis US 93. The Colorado River flows along the Arizona-California border.

http://www.azfamily.com/story/390101...of-lake-havasu

Colorado River boat crash leaves 4 missing, officials say

Four people were missing Sunday after a boat collision on the Colorado River ejected passengers and left nine others injured, officials said.

"We have four parties unaccounted for and presumed submerged," Eric Sherwin, a spokesperson for California's San Bernardino County Fire District, said. "It is being treated as a recovery operation."

Two boats crashed and sank in the river on Saturday night between two popular marinas and near Moabi Regional Park, on a popular stretch of the river that marks the border between California and Arizona, the Mohave County Sheriff's Office said.

Investigators said earlier Sunday that two people were missing before the sheriff's office revised the number to four — one man and three women.

No boaters were wearing life jackets at the time of the crash Saturday night, officials said. (San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department)

Sixteen people were on board the two boats, investigators said. As boaters rescued people from the water, nine people were found to be injured, two of whom were in critical condition.

Some passengers reportedly were thrown into the water by the force of the collision, or jumped, and were swept several miles down the river.

"We had victims of this collision that were located 3 to 5 miles downstream from the original point of impact," Sherwin said.

Rescuers immediately started to search for the missing passengers, but called off efforts until Sunday morning because they said the river, which can range from shallow to 30 feet deep depending on the area, was too dangerous after dark.

The cause of the crash is being investigated by Mohave County authorities. Sherwin said darkness undoubtedly played a role in the crash.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/09/02...cials-say.html

One victim found, three presumed dead in Colorado River boat crash

The deceased boater, found around 7:30 a.m., was identified as Christine Lewis, 51, a nurse at Kaweah Delta Medical Center in Visalia, California. The Mohave County Sheriff's Office said she was located downstream near the California border.

The body of a California woman who was among four people missing after two boats crashed on the Colorado River was found Monday, leaving rescuers searching for two other women and a man. They are presumed dead.

Nine people were injured, two of them critically, when the recreational boats collided head-on and sank around twilight Saturday between Pirates Cove and Topock Marina near Moabi Regional Park.

All 16 passengers, 10 on one boat and six on the other, were either thrown or jumped into the rushing river, which was crowded with holiday weekend boaters. Each of the boats that crashed had a mix of family and friends from out of the area, some of whom were rescued by passing boaters.

Divers with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department are brought back to the Topoc Marina on the Colorado River while searching for three people still missing from a boat collision Saturday night on the River. The marina is 30 miles north of Lake Havasu City. Nine people were injured in the crash.

Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Anita Mortensen said Monday that investigators had yet to determine what role speed might have played in the accident.

“We haven’t come up with anything on contributing factors yet,” she said. "Once (the missing) are located, then we can continue pursuing that information.”

Citing an emergency dispatcher whose report was broadcast on local TV stations, the Los Angeles Times reported the boats were traveling at around 50 mph when they collided.

More than 60 crew members from Arizona and California resumed their search on boats at sunrise Monday, tracking their progress with a computer program that mapped the riverbed. They headed out again after lunch and planned to continue their pursuit until it grew dark.

Two helicopters searched by air, and divers were sent out into the river’s waters, which can range from shallow to 30 feet deep.

No one on the boats was wearing a life vest, Mohave County Sheriff Doug Schuster said, adding that use of life vests is not mandatory but is recommended.

The sheriff's office said it would continue to patrol the river "until all the unaccounted for passengers are located.''

https://www.wbir.com/article/news/na...1-cb8bce03ecd2