It isn’t often that a small town in Nebraska gets featured in Navagear. Still, this cautionary tale deserves some attention. Note how all the kids had PFDs and nobody died.
Luke Nichols has this story in the Beatrice Daily Sun:
A Wymore man was cited at Rockford Lake Monday evening after the boat he was driving capsized, sending all nine occupants into the lake.
Dan Zuehlke, conservation officer for Nebraska Game and Parks, said Kevin Marom was driving a 15-foot fiberglass speedboat during windy conditions Monday.
The boat’s maximum capacity was five, but Marom had eight other occupants with him including five children. Zuehlke said wind gusts Monday afternoon were near 50 mph causing two to three foot waves on Rockford Lake. The boat capsized after nose-diving into a swell.
A rescue effort was led by Mike Alm, another boater on the lake at the time, who transported the children into the shoreline.
“The conditions were pretty bad,” Zuehlke said. “It was nothing short of a miracle that we aren’t looking for bodies in the water today.”
All five children in the boat were wearing life jackets, there were no injuries.
