PAGE, AZ – A tragic boating accident on Lake Powell in northern Arizona resulted in the deaths of a woman and two young children, with two others hospitalized, according to authorities on Sunday. The incident occurred when a privately-owned 25-foot pontoon boat, being towed by another vessel, capsized due to wave activity on Friday afternoon. The location of the accident was near the mouth of Navajo Canyon within the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, which is situated northeast of Page and close to the Arizona-Utah border.
Emergency response teams from the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office arrived on the scene to find some of the 11 passengers on top of the overturned pontoon, while others were in the water or trapped beneath the boat. Personnel from the Glen Canyon rangers and Page Fire Department assisted in rescuing the injured, who were then transported to hospitals via ambulances and helicopters.
On Saturday, authorities identified one of the deceased as 72-year-old Melissa Bean. The other two fatalities were 4-year-old boys, whose names have not yet been released. Among the survivors, a 12-year-old girl is reported to be in critical condition, and a man is receiving treatment for injuries that have not been specified.
While it remains uncertain if any of the victims were related, it was reported that families from Utah and Idaho were aboard the pontoon when it capsized. The incident is currently under investigation by the county sheriff’s department, the National Park Service, and the county medical examiner’s office.
Lt. Adam Simonsen, a spokesman for the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office, commented on the incident, stating that while it is not uncommon for them to investigate deaths on the water periodically, the scale of this tragedy — with three fatalities and two in critical condition — is not a usual occurrence and is indeed heartbreaking.