PAGE, Ariz. — A woman and two children were killed and two others were taken to the hospital after a pontoon boat capsized on Lake Powell in northern Arizona, authorities said Sunday.
The privately owned 25-foot pontoon was being towed by another boater when it encountered a wave and capsized Friday afternoon near the entrance to Navajo Canyon in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, National Park Service officials said.
Lake Powell is located northeast of Page, near the Arizona-Utah border.
Emergency crews rushed to the scene and found some of the 11 passengers on the overturned pier, as well as others in the water and trapped underneath the boat.
Glen Canyon rangers and Page Fire Department personnel helped pull the injured from the water and load them into ambulances and helicopters to be rushed to hospitals.
Authorities said Saturday that 72-year-old Melissa Bean 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 in hospital Sunday: a 12-year-old girl in serious condition and another man who was being treated for injuries whose extent was not disclosed.
It was unclear whether the victims had relatives, but authorities said family members from Utah and Idaho were on the pier when the boat capsized.
The case is being investigated by the county sheriff’s department, the National Park Service and the county coroner’s office.
“It is not uncommon for us to investigate fatalities on the water periodically throughout the year, however the magnitude of this incident – three dead and two seriously injured – is not a common situation and certainly a tragedy,” Coconino County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Lt. Adam Simonsen said in a statement.
