Boat explodes in Lake of the Ozarks, injuring 16 people Friday: Missouri troopers
Sixteen people suffered injuries, including some who required hospitalization, after a boat exploded on Friday in the Lake of the Ozarks, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
State troopers were investigating the incident Friday afternoon after the boat’s engine blew up at the Millstone Marina. As of Friday evening, findings by Highway Patrol investigators indicated there was a buildup of gas fumes in the boat’s engine compartment that ignited with a spark.
The injured included 15 people who were on the boat at the time. Another nearby person on the dock was also hurt, according to state troopers.
Corporal Kyle Green, with the Highway Patrol’s Troop F covering the central part of the state, said Friday night some of the boaters were thrown into the water by the explosion. Unfortunately, he said, such incidents are known to happen with some regularity.
State troopers have responded to several incidents this year, including a separate boat explosion Friday afternoon, Green said. It typically happens when boaters fail to turn on ventilation systems for the engine compartment, causing explosions that have been deadly in the past.
“It is a serious thing, and it happens so fast,” Green said.
A full account of those taken to the hospital in the Millstone Marina explosion was not immediately available, Green said, as state troopers were still working to figure out all who were involved and compile a crash report.
Photographs shared by the state agency on Friday showed shattered glass littered across the front of the boat and a destroyed canopy. Bags of ice and tallboy cans of Michelob Ultra remained on the boat’s tail end.
Troopers are investigating a boat explosion at the Millstone Marina at Lake of the Ozarks. Gas fumes built up in the engine area and a spark set off the explosion.
A total of 16 people have been injured (15 on the boat and 1 on the dock). They range from minor to moderate. pic.twitter.com/U4aMbjTzne— MSHP Troop F (@MSHPTrooperF) August 11, 2023
The boat explosion was one of two in the Lake of the Ozarks on Friday.
Earlier in the afternoon, two men in their 50s were injured after a boat engine exploded while the vessel was being fueled. An Overland Park man was taken to the hospital with moderate injuries, and a suburban St. Louis man was treated for minor injures on scene.
Another boat explosion in June sent two people to the hospital, including a 35-year-old Pennsylvania woman who was seriously injured. That case was thought to be a mechanical failure of the boat, which sank into the lake after the fire was extinguished.
