So this happened at Lake Powell last week

[Shaka 146]

Down with a group of friends camped out in Oak Canyon. After dark we heard screams for help and immediately headed out to find the source on boat, watercraft and on foot. Tough to pinpoint the location from the water as the screams were bounding off the cliff walls but it turned out the issue was on a houseboat in the back of the canyon about 300 yards from our houseboat. I was the first boat over but some of our group had reached the houseboat on foot and on watercraft by then. Fortunately we had an ER doc and several nurses with our group that attempted resuscitation for about 45 minutes before the medical chopper arrived. Efforts to revive went for over an hour but this gentleman's heart never started beating again. He was attempting to work on the generator in the hold and got an arc-flash that ended with him falling in the generator and continuing to be electrocuted. His friends tried to pull him off but got shocked. They ended up throwing a rope around him to get him away. Some yahoo in the comment section of one of the news stories said it was a rogue wave that threw him into the generator. This is bogus as there was no one out after dark and the water was calm.

 

His wife was present during the efforts and his children were in the basement of the houseboat. It was heartbreaking to watch. The Park Service rangers eventually showed up to investigate the accident and take the body away. The family was flown out via helicopter. The others on the houseboat drove out in the victims Axis the next morning. Eventually the Rangers came back with a salvage crew to retrieve the houseboat.

 

The moral of the story is be extra careful with all things electrical near the water.

 

http://ktla.com/2016/06/11/san-bernardino-city-fire-engineer-dies-after-being-electrocuted-while-vacationing-in-utah/

[DarksideR 1,679]

DAMN! That's horrible. The poor family.

[rrd525 40]

What a tragedy. Especially having the family present.

[Skibumm 184]

We wondered what had happened as we heard the calls over the radio as well. We had lifeflight land about 300 yards from our houseboat for a kid who broke his femur tubing and he was screaming the whole time while we were there. All in all over the 17 days I spent there I saw lifeflight 6 times. Fortunately nobody from our group was ever hurt but my feet are worn raw form that amount of time there.

[viking 491]

Damn that's heartbreaking. A reminder how quick good times can turn bad and you can't be too careful sometimes.

[WakeDoc 471]

WOW!!! Way to jump in, surly changed the mood of the trip.

[rockballer 162]

Absolutely heartening... My worse fear in life is to die in front of my family..

[Idaho Mike 29]

I remember having one of our crew down at Powell get life-flighted out for carbon monoxide poisoning. Fully unconscious kid for probably 45 minutes! That was scary - actually had to give him some rescue breaths to get him breathing after he just fell off the swim deck of a ski natique and went face down. We were a million miles from nowhere and the oldest among us was probably 22 at the time.

 

Seemed like every Lake Powell trip involved a night time search for a missing jet skier or boat (usually somebody else's, but we joined in the searches more often than not).

 

Powell is a wild place. I'd bet they have two or three deaths a week during high season on that lake.