Cherokee Queen Captain Helps in Rescue
Cherokee Queen Captain Terry Fowler had just returned home from piloting a Friday night cruise when he got an urgent phone call…there had been a bad boating accident south of Sailboat Bridge. Rushing back to Royal Bay Marina around 10:30 p.m., he was told by Randy Wacker, manager, to take a pontoon boat out to Weed Island to assist.
"It was very dark, but a GRDA lake patrolman was already on the scene and the GRDA helicopter was hovering overhead with a spotlight on the island," Fowler said. He had to wade through at least 20 feet of mud to get from the pontoon boat to the island. Three survivors, two females and one male, were loaded on his pontoon boat and taken back to Sailboat Bridge where ambulances and an EMS helicopter were waiting; Fowler made a second trip to bring in one additional surviving female.
Two deceased persons, identified by GRDA as Brent Johnson of Inola and Jennifer Beeson of Tulsa, were taken by GRDA to Royal Bay Marina.
Fowler believes the 25 foot Baja was heading from Patricia Island to Royal Bay going "at least 60 miles an hour" when it hit the mudflats surrounding Weed Island, the larger of the two islands in the middle of the lake south of Sailboat Bridge. The boat flipped over and two of the passengers, believed to be in the front, were trapped in the overturned boat.
An emergency cell phone call was made from a female underneath the boat to Grove Police, according to Chief Mark Wall. "She said she was trapped beneath a boat which had run upon land and she had no idea where they were," Wall said.
GRDA had just installed a warning light near Weed Island two weeks ago.
The boat was left on the island overnight and retrieved by GRDA lake patrol the next afternoon and towed to Shangri-La Marina. The engine was still in working order, Fowler was told.
Passengers taken to area hospitals included Stephanie Younce, 29, of Tulsa and Steve Harkal, 34 of Phoenix, Az, to Integris Grove General Hospital; they have since been released. Paul Barnett, 38, residence unknown, and Toyna Hayes of Oklahoma City, were taken by helicopter to Freeman Hospital in Joplin.
One of the survivors told Fowler that the group had been at Dripping Springs most of the day and were headed to Tara Miranda when they got lost in the darkness. Fowler said he observed the boat going back and forth in the evening, south of Sailboat Bridge, as he was piloting the Cherokee Queen's evening cruise.
"It was very dark, but a GRDA lake patrolman was already on the scene and the GRDA helicopter was hovering overhead with a spotlight on the island," Fowler said. He had to wade through at least 20 feet of mud to get from the pontoon boat to the island. Three survivors, two females and one male, were loaded on his pontoon boat and taken back to Sailboat Bridge where ambulances and an EMS helicopter were waiting; Fowler made a second trip to bring in one additional surviving female.
Two deceased persons, identified by GRDA as Brent Johnson of Inola and Jennifer Beeson of Tulsa, were taken by GRDA to Royal Bay Marina.
Fowler believes the 25 foot Baja was heading from Patricia Island to Royal Bay going "at least 60 miles an hour" when it hit the mudflats surrounding Weed Island, the larger of the two islands in the middle of the lake south of Sailboat Bridge. The boat flipped over and two of the passengers, believed to be in the front, were trapped in the overturned boat.
An emergency cell phone call was made from a female underneath the boat to Grove Police, according to Chief Mark Wall. "She said she was trapped beneath a boat which had run upon land and she had no idea where they were," Wall said.
GRDA had just installed a warning light near Weed Island two weeks ago.
The boat was left on the island overnight and retrieved by GRDA lake patrol the next afternoon and towed to Shangri-La Marina. The engine was still in working order, Fowler was told.
Passengers taken to area hospitals included Stephanie Younce, 29, of Tulsa and Steve Harkal, 34 of Phoenix, Az, to Integris Grove General Hospital; they have since been released. Paul Barnett, 38, residence unknown, and Toyna Hayes of Oklahoma City, were taken by helicopter to Freeman Hospital in Joplin.
One of the survivors told Fowler that the group had been at Dripping Springs most of the day and were headed to Tara Miranda when they got lost in the darkness. Fowler said he observed the boat going back and forth in the evening, south of Sailboat Bridge, as he was piloting the Cherokee Queen's evening cruise.
posted by Editor | 2:30 AM
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