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Posted By:
Hal Brown
Date Posted:
Nov 23, 2006
Description:
This may not look like a place of death, but it was.
On a beautiful fall evening a small boat set out with a young family of five for a few quiet hours of fishing as the sun set behind the palm trees. Out on the lake, at this spot, the engine raised up. The father of the family immediately pulled the throttle to idle and the back of the boat settled below the water. Water poured into the boat.
Activation of the bilge pump proved futile. The bilge pump was later found with its line disconnected. There was no way to get the water out of the boat. It settled into the dark water.
The father grabbed the 3 month old baby. The mother gathered the 6 year old and the 2 year old and grabbed hold of barely floating bow.
The water was chilling. There was no help in sight as the blackness surrounded them.
The father made a difficult decision. He would go for help. Knowing the baby couldn’t withstand the heat-draining water, he held it to his chest and swam towards the far shore. It was a ¾ mile swim on his back holding the baby up. When he got to the swampy shore he swaddled the baby in palm fronds. In the blackness he hiked for miles through the swamp in the chill night to get help.
It was well after midnight that he found a house and called for help. The Sheriffs rushed to try and rescue the rest of the family.
They found the boat with its bow still slightly above water. Nearby they found the mother, barely conscious. The two children were nowhere to be found.
As we flew over divers were in the water searching for the children. They were found the next day when their little bloated bodies surfaced.
The mother told a harrowing tale of clinging to the boat as heat drained from their bodies. The first to go was the little boy. He wasn’t wearing a life jacket and it was lost when the boat swamped. The little girl slipped from her jacket and her mother’s arms sometime in the night.
Life can be so unfair. It seemed somehow wrong to be out having fun in the face of tragedy. The world is, however, full of tragedy. What a tragedy it would be if all life had to be lived only in contemplation of such sorrow.
Perhaps there will be fairness for the lost children in some reality other than this one. That is the hope that keeps happiness over on the next shore.
Date Taken:
Nov 23, 2006
Place Taken:
Lake Yale, FL
Owner:
Dan Nickens
File Name:
Deadly_Places.jpg - Photo HTML
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Category:
34, Florida Flying
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Read what others had to say:
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John Robert Dunlop - Nov 23,2006
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What a tragedy! Geeze..
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Jim Thomas - Nov 23,2006
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This is a tragedy that didn't need to happen. The boat was poorly maintained with the motor mount being damaged and the bilge pump not only disconnected, but inoperable even if it was connected. Not that it would've helped.<br /><br />The father compounded the situation by creating an imbalance in the 15' boat by going to the stern without first sending more weight up front, thus swamping the craft stern first. The older kids should never have been without a well fitted PFD.<br /><br />I don't know if there is reliable cell service on Lake Yale, but if there was, a call to 911 would make sense.
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Dan Nickens - Nov 25,2006
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The front page headlines in the local Lake County section of yesterday’s newspaper said: “Charges unlikely in boat deaths.” Investigators will recommend against filing criminal charges against the parents in this disaster.<br /><br />“In my estimation, it would be adding insult to their injury in this case,” the chief investigator for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is quoted as saying. “Our evaluation is the boat was at fault, and the malfunctions beyond his (the fathers) control.”<br /><br />More (and differing) facts were cited. Investigators concluded that a combination of mechanical faults lead to accident. The family was returning to shore as the sun set. The boat was already sinking at that point. A hose had become disconnected from the bilge pump.<br /><br />The father noticed a problem with the outboard motor and believed something had gotten caught in the prop. He tilted the motor up to check. Unfortunately, a corroded wire prevented him from lowering the foot back into the water.<br /><br />With the propeller barely under the surface, the prop pushed the back of the boat deeper into the water. Water rushed in through the bilge fitting and over the transom. The boat sank quickly.<br /><br />The boy (actually age 8), and the little girl were not wearing jackets. The parents had life jackets on. Autopsies on the children found they died of hypothermia and drowning in the 63F water. It took about four hours for the rescuers to reach the accident site.<br /><br />Hypothermia is a principal cause of death in boating accidents, even in Florida. This chart shows the average time before exhaustion or death with various temperatures:<br /><br />WATER TEMPERATURE / EXHAUSTION / SURVIVAL TIME<br />32.5 degrees............................Under 15 min........Under 15 TO 45 min.<br />32.5 to 40................................15 to 30 min.........30 to 90 min.<br />40 to 50...................................30 to 60 min.........1 to 3 hrs.<br />50 to 60...................................1 to 2 hrs..............1 to 6 hrs.<br />60 to 70...................................2 to 7 hrs..............2 to 40 hrs.<br />70 to 80...................................3 to 12 hrs............3 hrs. to indefinite<br />Over 80...................................Indefinite...............Indefinite<br /><br />Swimming increases the rate of body heat loss. Most survival guides recommend against swimming (if you have a PFD) unless there is a safe place nearby or timely rescue is unlikely.<br /><br />The investigating agency has been deluged with comments. Comparisons have been made to leaving a loaded gun lying around available to the kids. Here is what the agency spokeswoman, Kat Kelly said: “Did the parents do something that contributed to this tragic outcome? Yes. But I’ve never seen such a guttural, animalistic response from outraged people. If they can’t look at this poor woman’s face and understand that these parents lost two of their children who they loved dearly, well, I don’t know what else to tell them.”<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
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Kenneth Leonard - Nov 25,2006
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It's a tough call Dan - I am a big believer in holding people accountable for thier actions (or inaction in this case) but some people to too stupid to learn, won't be scared into compliance by making examples of others and after the fact, further punishment of these parents isn't likely to have any positive effect on either them or society in general.<br />As much as I believe in personal freedoms, my knee jerk reaction to this incident is to say that everyone who drives a power boat should be required to take some sort of certified boating course. I was playing with my Seadoo in the gulf last year and two teens drove up in thier SUV towing a pair of brand new, top of the line Seadoos on a trailer. They backed the trailer into the water up to the axels - the boats were still dry on the trailer. Then they jumped on the boats - no life jackets - put them in reverse and screemed the engines expecting them to back off the trailer. They couldn't understand why the boats didn't back up with the impellers 1 foot out of the water. 'We don need to steenkin training!'
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Tom Lansing - Nov 28,2006
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Sad sad event. Training and offering wisdom is what we can do to prevent such horrible times as this. It helps for everyone to be a busy body near the water. Offer, don't wait, advise don't critisize. It will help someone stay alive. It is at least, our responsability.
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