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http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/S...lls+injures+others+reports/3234803/story.html
Police investigating fatal B.C. water collision
By Sam Cooper, Canwest News Service July 4, 2010 6:03 PM
One person is dead and eight people were taken to hospital after a speedboat crashed into a houseboat on Shuswap Lake on Saturday night.
Photograph by: Video image courtesy CHBC Kelowna, Vancouver Sun files
VANCOUVER — A fireworks party on British Columbia’s Shuswap Lake exploded into chaos with a speedboat smashing into a houseboat and vaulting straight into its cabin, killing the larger boat’s driver and injuring many occupants.
The collision happened late Saturday night, police say, as hundreds of boats were dispersing from an annual long-weekend fireworks show in the Magna Bay area of the lake’s north shore.
RCMP Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said there were 13 people aboard the privately owned 12-metre houseboat, and the local operator, a 40-year-old man, died on the scene.
Three people were aboard the six-metre Campion speedboat, which remained embedded inside the houseboat following the crash. Police are not disclosing whether any speedboat occupants were injured in the accident about 450 kilometres northeast of Vancouver.
It’s possible that lives were saved as other boaters in the area “instinctively” rushed into the carnage to pry victims from the wreckage, give first aid, and drive patients to shore, Moskaluk said.
B.C. Ambulance officials helped nine people with injuries ranging from minor bruises to head injuries to broken bones, an ambulance spokesperson said.
Eight people went to emergency at Royal Inland Hospital in nearby Kamloops, B.C., and two remained in treatment there on Sunday, Interior Health spokeswoman Lannea Parfitt said.
Moskaluk said police are investigating whether alcohol or dangerous operation of either boat was a factor in the crash, and criminal charges are possible.
“Details are not fully known about which speeds both vehicles were operating at, but given the velocity it would have taken for the speedboat to project itself and fully embed itself into the cabin portion (of the houseboat), we can safely say there was some speed here,” Moskaluk said.
He added police are offering counselling to witnesses and victims.
“For things to go from a peaceful enjoyable evening to a collision with a high volume of casualties, it’s something that’s very traumatic for people to witness — it’s beyond description.”
Al Christopherson, of Century 21 Lakeside Realty Ltd., said the fireworks show has been growing in popularity for about four years.
For Saturday’s show there were up to 400 boats driven into Magna Bay, which is about six kilometres wide, Christopherson said.
“There was a lot of boats out in the bay, but it certainly wasn’t crowded or dangerous,” Christopherson said. “When the fireworks display was over . . . it just looked like a bunch of families going slowly home.”
Marty McMillan of Anglemont Inn said several of his guests were aboard the houseboat Saturday night but were taken back to shore before the crash.
“They were a little shaky — the fact they just got off, they feel lucky.”
“We lost one of our local guys here,” McMillan added. “We’re a real small community and we just have this local fireworks display. I don’t know if we have proper supervision of it.”
Vancouver Province
scooper@theprovince.com
© Copyright (c) The Province
Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Speedboat+hits+houseboat+kills+injures+others+reports/3234803/story.html#ixzz0slggeTfx
Jim's Fishing Charters
www.JimsFishing.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/Sushihunter250
Police investigating fatal B.C. water collision
By Sam Cooper, Canwest News Service July 4, 2010 6:03 PM
One person is dead and eight people were taken to hospital after a speedboat crashed into a houseboat on Shuswap Lake on Saturday night.
Photograph by: Video image courtesy CHBC Kelowna, Vancouver Sun files
VANCOUVER — A fireworks party on British Columbia’s Shuswap Lake exploded into chaos with a speedboat smashing into a houseboat and vaulting straight into its cabin, killing the larger boat’s driver and injuring many occupants.
The collision happened late Saturday night, police say, as hundreds of boats were dispersing from an annual long-weekend fireworks show in the Magna Bay area of the lake’s north shore.
RCMP Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said there were 13 people aboard the privately owned 12-metre houseboat, and the local operator, a 40-year-old man, died on the scene.
Three people were aboard the six-metre Campion speedboat, which remained embedded inside the houseboat following the crash. Police are not disclosing whether any speedboat occupants were injured in the accident about 450 kilometres northeast of Vancouver.
It’s possible that lives were saved as other boaters in the area “instinctively” rushed into the carnage to pry victims from the wreckage, give first aid, and drive patients to shore, Moskaluk said.
B.C. Ambulance officials helped nine people with injuries ranging from minor bruises to head injuries to broken bones, an ambulance spokesperson said.
Eight people went to emergency at Royal Inland Hospital in nearby Kamloops, B.C., and two remained in treatment there on Sunday, Interior Health spokeswoman Lannea Parfitt said.
Moskaluk said police are investigating whether alcohol or dangerous operation of either boat was a factor in the crash, and criminal charges are possible.
“Details are not fully known about which speeds both vehicles were operating at, but given the velocity it would have taken for the speedboat to project itself and fully embed itself into the cabin portion (of the houseboat), we can safely say there was some speed here,” Moskaluk said.
He added police are offering counselling to witnesses and victims.
“For things to go from a peaceful enjoyable evening to a collision with a high volume of casualties, it’s something that’s very traumatic for people to witness — it’s beyond description.”
Al Christopherson, of Century 21 Lakeside Realty Ltd., said the fireworks show has been growing in popularity for about four years.
For Saturday’s show there were up to 400 boats driven into Magna Bay, which is about six kilometres wide, Christopherson said.
“There was a lot of boats out in the bay, but it certainly wasn’t crowded or dangerous,” Christopherson said. “When the fireworks display was over . . . it just looked like a bunch of families going slowly home.”
Marty McMillan of Anglemont Inn said several of his guests were aboard the houseboat Saturday night but were taken back to shore before the crash.
“They were a little shaky — the fact they just got off, they feel lucky.”
“We lost one of our local guys here,” McMillan added. “We’re a real small community and we just have this local fireworks display. I don’t know if we have proper supervision of it.”
Vancouver Province
scooper@theprovince.com
© Copyright (c) The Province
Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Speedboat+hits+houseboat+kills+injures+others+reports/3234803/story.html#ixzz0slggeTfx
Jim's Fishing Charters
www.JimsFishing.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/Sushihunter250