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Sea Esta
09-29-2003, 09:09 AM
Here is the article from this mornings paper. This happen at the Alton pool which is north of St Louis on the Mississippi River.
Four are killed as ski boat hits dam near Alton
By PAUL HAMPEL
A ski boat that witnesses said had been crisscrossing the Mississippi River
near Alton at high speed crashed into the Mel Price Locks and Dam just after
darkness set in Sunday, killing four and injuring two.
Alton Fire Chief Tim Spaulding said the boat hit the third pier on the massive
concrete structure on the Missouri side of the river at about 7:30 p.m.
"It was a high-speed impact," said Spaulding.
The chief said three men and a woman had died and two women were seriously
injured in the crash.
The injured women were taken to St. Anthony's Hospital in Alton. One woman was
conscious and speaking with investigators late Sunday night. The other woman
was taken by medical helicopter to a St. Louis hospital. Their conditions were
not immediately available.
The identities of the victims were not available, but all were from
the St. Louis area, the fire chief said.
"It was full dark when the boat hit," Spaulding said.
Much of the 19-foot pleasure craft remained intact but was trapped against the
locks.
Spaulding said the craft likely would have sunk but was being held aloft by the
locks. At 10:15 p.m., Alton authorities and staff at the locks and dam had yet
to decide whether to remove the wreckage immediately or leave it until this
morning, Spaulding said.
A fisherman from Alton whose boat was moored on the Illinois side of the river
near the locks said he had watched the boat speeding around the area known as
the Alton Pool just before the crash.
"I saw them speeding back and forth several times," said Willie Jenkins, 46, of
Alton. "They were running pretty fast. I went back to my fishing, and then all
of a sudden, just ka-boom!"
Jenkins said he turned to see debris flying through the air and a small amount
of smoke rising from the boat's engine.
He did not have a phone on board his boat. Before he and his fishing buddy
could reach shore, emergency crews began to arrive on the roadway atop the
locks and dam. Jenkins said, however, that the first crews were unable to reach
the victims. A short time later, a rescue boat arrived, he said.
Spaulding said crews from the Alton Volunteer Emergency Service and the Alton
Fire Department were assisted by deck crews who arrived in boats from the Alton
Belle Casino.
The fire chief said the casino crews took the victims from the wreckage to the
public boat ramp about a mile away.
The chief said the victims' injuries appeared to have been caused by trauma
from the impact. But he also said some of those who died had been found below
the water's surface inside the boat.
Spaulding said his department had responded numerous times to accidents at the
locks and dam involving towboats, but he could not remember a fatal incident
involving a pleasure craft.
About an hour after the accident, investigators with the Illinois Department of
Natural Resources arrived at the crash site. A spokesman had no comment, but
Alton police Officer David DeWall said that agency would handle the
investigation.
An employee working in the lockmaster's control tower said the locks and dam
closed shortly after the crash and reopened late Sunday.

Essex502
09-29-2003, 09:55 AM
Four killed as ski boat hits dam near Alton
By PAUL HAMPEL
Post-Dispatch
09/28/2003
Updated 11:52 a.m. Monday:
The Madison County coroner released the names of the three men and one woman who died Sunday night in a boating accident on the Mississippi River.
Killed in the 7:30 p.m. accident were: Lindsay R. Kent, 23, of Festus; Steve Charles Boyer, 31, of De Soto; Tye W. Edwards, 42, of Festus; and his brother, Scott A. Edwards, 39, of Festus.
Coroner Steve Nonn said the four had died of chest and head wounds. The Edwards brothers were pronounced dead at the scene. Kent and Boyer were pronounced dead about a half-hour later, at 9:35 p.m.
A coroner's inquest will be convened at a later date once toxicology reports and investigative reports are complete.

superV
09-29-2003, 12:48 PM
RiverDave:
Holy shit.. An entire write up on a fatality crash and not one mention of the word alcohol?
And to top it off a 2nd post with no mention of "Alcohol maybe a factor"
I'm impressed. eek! eek! jawdrop
RD Welcome to Da Mid West now pull up a rocker and have some tea! :D

Sea Esta
09-30-2003, 08:36 AM
Here some more information from this mornings paper.
Boat crash puzzles authorities
By Paul Hampel and Rick Pierce
Post-Dispatch
09/29/2003
The 28 ft. motorboat that crashed into the Alton Lock and Dam Sunday night. (KAREN ELSHOUT/P-D)
The pilot of a ski boat that crashed into the Mel Price Locks and Dam on Sunday night, killing four and injuring two, may have thought it possible to drive through the structure, one of the first firefighters at the scene said Monday.
Alton firefighter Jim McFarlane said the water level at the time of the crash was just two feet below the top of the steel gate that separated two massive concrete piers of the dam.
"In the dark, traveling fast and not knowing the area well, it's possible they thought they were passing beneath a bridge," McFarlane said. "Even though it's well-lit, it does look like a bridge, a bridge that goes nowhere."
McFarlane described an accident scene more like a high-speed crash on highway pavement than one involving a pleasure boat on a river.
The crash, which happened about 7:30 p.m. at Alton, left the 19-foot fiberglass boat lodged on one of the dam's steel gates.
Four people were dead. Two were injured, one of whom weakly waved her hand toward emergency crews, motioning for help.
"It was a terrible scene," McFarlane said. "You usually don't see head-on collisions like that involving a boat and a stationary object."
Madison County Coroner Steve Nonn identified those killed as Lindsay R. Kent, 23, of Festus; Steve Charles Boyer, 31, of De Soto; and brothers Scott A. Edwards, 39, the boat's owner, and Tye W. Edwards, 42, both of Festus. Nonn said they died of massive head and chest injuries.
Their bodies were found in the forward cabin of boat, but McFarlane said it was not clear if they were in the cabin before the collision, or were thrown there by the force of impact. Investigators found life jackets in the cabin, but little water inside since most of the vessel was actually left resting above the water line.
"It appeared to me that they died instantly," McFarlane said.
Diane Edwards, 41, of Festus, was in fair condition Monday at St. Louis University Hospital, a spokeswoman there said.
Victoria Boyle, 32, of Imperial, suffered a broken wrist. She was reported in satisfactory condition at St. Anthony's Health Center in Alton. Authorities said Diane and Tye Edwards were married, and that Boyle was a friend of Scott Edwards. McFarlane said both women were conscious when rescuers arrived.
Capt. Mark Ottis of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, which is investigating the accident, said no witnesses have been found who saw the impact. "I don't know how fast they were going, but they were going fast," Ottis said. "That boat is impaled on that gate, and that boat is cut three-fourths of the way through."
Earlier, witnesses had seen the boat zigzagging at a fast clip through what is known as the Alton Lake area west of the dam.
Ottis said he doesn't understand how the driver of the boat could have missed seeing the gate.
"Everybody keeps saying maybe they didn't see it, and maybe they didn't. But those things are kind of hard to hide," Ottis said.
He said investigators believed that one of the dead was driving the boat, but said he is not sure. Investigators did not get a chance to interview the two injured women on Monday.
Mark Edwards, a brother of the Edwards brothers, said Scott had several boats over the years and had bought this summer the boad that crashed on Sunday. Scott likely was driving the boat, Mark said.
"He was out on the boat every weekend and sometimes during the week; he knew how to handle almost any situation on the water," Mark said. "We grew up on the river, all three of us, since we were young boys."
Toxicology results on the dead are expected to take three weeks.
The boat was removed by a barge and a crane Monday afternoon and taken to a site where it was to be inspected by authorities.
Alton Fire Capt. Tim Spaulding said the accident was the worst on the river since an explosion on a barge during a Fourth of July celebration in 1997 killed three.
Nicole Dowell, a spokeswoman for the Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the locks, said the boat struck a steel structure called Tainter Gate No. 7. Tainter gates raise and lower the water level.
Dowell said no-wake zones are posted on both shores, along with signs warning boaters to stay 500 feet from the gates.
"It's a restricted area for a reason," Dowell said. "Getting within a certain proximity of a dam is very dangerous."
Water levels above and below dams usually vary. As a result, a system of locks is used to help boats and barges pass through without being affected by the variation in water levels. The locks close, then fill with water so that there is no sudden drop.
The boat accident on Sunday took place at a gate near the Missouri shore, Ottis said. The locks where boats and barges pass through is closer to the Illinois shore.

Rivertoys
09-30-2003, 08:41 AM
I've never heard a 28' motorboat refered to as a ski boat! Except maybe on Catalina Ski/Race weekend. wink
RTJas :D

JetBoatRich
09-30-2003, 10:15 AM
It mentioned 2 different size boats in the article :confused:

Essex502
09-30-2003, 10:46 AM
Boat was a 19'er.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/graphlib.nsf/ByFilename/boat30big.jpg/$file/boat30big.jpg