All eight people involved in boat crash alive; driver arrested for boating while intoxicated
LAKE OF THE OZARKS, Mo. (KMIZ)
All eight people onboard a boat that crashed into a house at the Lake of the Ozarks are alive, according to Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Eight people were sent to the hospital after a boat crashed into a home on the Lake of the Ozarks. Missouri State Highway Patrol reported the crash happened at 11:55 p.m. Saturday at the 1.3 mile mark of the Osage Arm and a house in the 400 block of Big Bear Drive.
Ethan Leigh is a resident in the area who said his father was home during the time of the crash watching his children, and heard a loud noise when it crashed. Shortly after returning home, Leigh said he initially didn't see anything out of the ordinary in the area, but minutes later, that changed.
"There was just like a flood of ambulances and fire trucks and we saw a bunch of water patrol coming from each direction," Leigh said.
According to the crash report, Adam Ramirez, 47, was driving the boat when it ran aground and hit the home. The boat then overturned and ejected all eight passengers on board, according to the crash report. Highway Patrol said two people were home at the time of the crash, but are not injured.
Travis Coleman with Tow Boat US Lake of the Ozarks noted that being ejected from a boat when in a crash is the best case scenario. This is because the boat could roll over on you, which would ultimately cause more severe injuries.
"The best thing you can hope for is you're ejected because you don't want 15,000 or 20,000 pounds of boat to come down on top of you," Coleman said.
All passengers were taken to Lake Regional Hospital. Six of those passengers were seriously hurt and two suffered moderate injuries, according to the crash report.
Ramirez was arrested for boating while intoxicated, according to Highway Patrol. Cpl. Kyle Green said investigators are waiting for Ramirez to be released from the hospital to learn more about what led up to the crash.
Green said speeding was involved in the crash.
The eight passengers on board were not wearing life jackets and the boat was totaled, the Highway Patrol reported.
According to Coleman, crashes out on the lake are common, especially over the last two years. Coleman also noted that the cause of the crashes varies from case to case, but alcohol and how dark it is out on the water typically can play a large role.
"We see a lot of these types of groundings, usually on bare points, darker stretches of the lake, that sort of thing," Coleman said. "But not really unusual, with the enormous increase in boat traffic that we've had here over the last two years."
