Young Boy Drowns in Lake Shasta
Early Saturday morning, a young boy was found dead in Lake Shasta, next to the boat his family was staying on. Our hearts and prayers are with the family during this tragic time.
What Happened?
A family from Salinas, California rented a houseboat on Lake Shasta for the first weekend of July. They were boating near the Shasta Caverns on the McCloud arm when they beached the boat for the night on Friday at Marble Creek Cove. Saturday morning the family tried to leave the cove but the boat would not start. While working on the boat at about 7 a.m. they discovered their son was missing. They searched the houseboat and nearby shore and could not locate the boy. During their search they found the boy’s flip flops floating on the water near the back of the boat and called the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office.
Many law enforcement and rescue agencies joined in the search. The Shasta County Boating Safety Unit and Dive Team searched the water in the cove while the Mountain Rescue Team and Search and Rescue Tracking Team searched the surrounding land next to the cove for the missing boy. After half an hour the Dive Team found the boy underwater, 17 feet below the surface. He was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to the sheriff’s coroner at the Bridge Bay Marina.
The boy was not wearing his life jacket when he entered the water. According to California Law, all youth ages 13 and younger are required to wear a life jacket while in a boat that is on the water. The houseboat was beached and not considered “on the water”, therefore the boy was not required by law to be wearing his life jacket the morning of the accident.
Life Jackets and Safety
Although only children are required by law to wear a life jacket, it is a life-saving idea to have anyone, of any age or swimming ability, wear one while out on a boat. Shaw Grigsby, a professional bass fisherman says; “If you’re not a fish, you’ve got to wear your life jacket.” To be safe, have a Coast Guard approved life jacket for every person aboard. Wearing them on the boat can prevent an inability to get them if there is a boat collision or the boat becomes submerged for some reason.
Make sure each life jacket is still useable. Old, torn, or waterlogged jackets may not have the buoyancy required to keep a person afloat. Properly fitting the life jackets to each person is also key. If a life jacket is too loose, it can slip off or not keep one’s head above water in an emergency. Read more on proper life jacket fitting and usage on uscgboating.org.
Shasta Lake Accident Lawyer
I’m Ed Smith, a Shasta Lake Personal Injury Lawyer. If you have been injured in an accident on the lake due to the negligence of someone else, please call me at 530-392-9400 or 800-404-5400 for free, friendly advice.
Read reviews from past clients here:
I have worked on car accident, personal injury, and boating accident cases since 1983 in Shasta Lake and surrounding Northern California areas.
To see some of my results on previous settlements and verdicts click here.
I am a Million Dollar Advocate, a list of trial lawyers in the U.S. who have won cases valued at a million dollars or more.
More Articles from My Blog:
- Shasta Lake Boating Accident
- Shasta Lake Toxic Algae
- Lake Shasta Boating Accident Injures Man
- Possible Shasta Brake Failure Hospitalizes Three
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