A woman and two children died and two other people were hospitalized after a pontoon boat capsized on Lake Powell in northern Arizona, authorities said Sunday.
National Park Service officials said the 25-foot private pontoon was being towed by another boater when it was overturned by waves Friday afternoon near the mouth of Navajo Canyon in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.
Lake Powell is located northeast of Page and near the Arizona-Utah border.
Emergency crews responded to the scene and found some of the 11 passengers atop the overturned pontoon and others in the water and trapped under the boat.
Glen Canyon Rangers and Page Fire Department personnel are helping to pull the injured from the water and transport them to ambulances and helicopters to be rushed to the hospital. The Coconino County Sheriff’s Office, which also responded to the incident, posted an image of the capsized boat on social media.
Coconino County Sheriff’s Office
Authorities said Saturday that Melissa Bean, 72, and two 4-year-old boys died at the scene.
The boys’ names have not yet been released.
Authorities said two other pontoon passengers remained hospitalized Sunday — a 12-year-old girl in critical condition and a man being treated for undisclosed injuries.
It’s not yet clear whether any of the victims were related, but authorities said families from Utah and Idaho were on the pontoon when it capsized.
The incident is being investigated by the county sheriff’s department, the National Park Service and the county medical examiner’s office.
“It is not unusual for us to investigate a fatality on the water periodically throughout the year. However, the magnitude of this occurrence – we have three fatalities and two people in critical condition – is not a common occurrence and it is definitely tragic,” Coconino County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Lt. Adam Simonsen said in a statement.
The National Park Service said multiple agencies assisted with the operation: Big Water Fire assisted with dispatch and the Kane County Sheriff’s Department helped provide information while park rangers and other personnel responded to the incident.
“The National Park Service and the 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 American West that has suffered from years of drought. In 2022, satellite images showed The dramatic impact of the megadrought that left the lake just 24 percent full. At the time, the National Park Service was forced to close 11 boat ramps in the Lake Powell Recreation Area, which attracts millions of visitors.
