A tragic boating accident claimed the lives of three individuals, and severely injured two more, at the Lake of the Ozarks over the weekend. All the victims were in their early 20’s. The accident took place early Saturday morning near the 47 mile marker. Troopers were notified around 1:45 am and arrested the driver on suspicion of three counts of driving while intoxicated leading to the death of another person, one count of boating while intoxicated causing serious injury to another, and negligent operation of a vessel. The accident is still being investigated so no formal charges have been filed by Camden County as of yet.
One seasonal resident, Belinda Manos, lives near the crash site. She said she heard a noise in the middle of the night, but when she looked outside she could not see anything so went back to bed. “Sometimes you get people here that don’t know the lake, they travel too fast, it’s dark, unfortunately, those things do happen down here it’s very, very sad.” This accident takes place just at the beginning of National Boating Safety Week, which focuses on promoting and reacquainting boaters with safe boating practices for the summer season.