A man has died and several of his family members, all from Grand Lake, Louisiana, were injured in a Thursday evening boating accident on nearby Lake Sam Rayburn. It happened at about 6:30 about halfway between Ebenezer Park and the dam.
Three generations of the family, ranging in age from teenagers to elderly, were on a pontoon boat after arriving at Rayburn on Thursday for their first day of a vacation.
A distraught family member who didn't give his name said that a man operating a bass boat at full speed was apparently not paying attention and slammed into and went over the pontoon boat. The driver of the bass boat, who was not injured, was a 39-year-old Sour Lake man, and at last word Texas Parks & Wildlife Game Wardens were questioning him about the incident. However, one rescue worker said he heard the driver of one of the vessels say that both boats were headed towards each other and they tried to avoid the head on crash, but accidentally turned the wrong way.
The most seriously injured was rescued from the water by the Jasper County Emergency Corps and Rayburn First Responders. The victim was loaded into a medical helicopter and was being transported to St. Elizabeth Hospital in Beaumont when his condition suddenly changed prompting the flight to be diverted to Christus Jasper Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
Meanwhile, another pontoon boat transported the remaining family members to Public Boat Ramp, where they could be medically examined, and in the end all three went to a hospital.
The members of the Lake Rayburn Fire Department along with the Jasper County Emergency Corps assisted the Texas Parks and Wildlife and Jasper County Sheriff's Deputies with the rescue.
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