A Russian man died, several others were nearly drowned and some were cut by boat propellers as high winds wreaked havoc on a group of pontoon boaters at Lake Powell.
About 30 young adults were in the group of international visitors who rented three pontoons Monday in Wahweap and traveled to the Castle Rock Cut in Wahweap Bay, according to a news statement from Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.
Several of the boaters had hopped into the water to swim — without life jackets — when winds picked up. As the swimmers began to struggle, boat operators drove out to them and pulled them out of the water, some of them “near total exhaustion,” park officials wrote. Some were able to reach shore after swimming for five to 10 minutes, but three were “near-drownings victims,” park officials wrote, and one man died in the water.
Aleksandr Kurganov, 20, from St. Petersburg, was about 9 feet underwater when members of the group found him. They tried to perform CPR but medics who met the group at the dock determined he had died.
A man and a woman were cut by boat propellers as they pulled Kurganov from the water, park officials wrote. The woman was flown to a hospital in St. George, and the man was taken to a hospital in Page, Ariz., along with another man who was suffering from psychological distress.
The three near-drowning victims refused hospital care, park officials wrote.
The National Park Service, State Parks, and Coconino County Sheriff’s Office are still investigating the drowning.
