On june 17, 2013, at approximately 10:30pm, a boating accident occurred on lake norman.  The accident transpired 141 yards off the stumpy creek access area in mooresville, north carolina.  The vessel was a 15 foot mackie indus plastics being powered by a trolling motor.  The boat was operated by someone other than the owner.    

The three gentlemen launched the boat that owner had let them borrow for the evening at the boat ramp located at stumpy creek access area.  They had intentions of going fishing that night and had not gotten far from the ramp when they noticed that the vessel was taking on water.  Operator turned the vessel around and started heading back to the ramp.  At this point the vessel started submerging rapidly.  According to operator, he and occupant jumped off the vessel and were able to grab a hold of a cooler they had on board the vessel.  They looked back at the vessel at which point they saw victim going under water with only his hands above the water.  They never saw victim after this point.

A nearby fisherman heard cries of “help” a couple coves away.  They headed toward the voices and found operator and occupant latched on the same cooler afloat in the water.  Good sam could see the lights of the sunken vessel but no sign of victim.  Good sam tossed his type iv and a pfd to the gentleman but said they would not let go of the cooler to grab either device.  At this point, good sam grabbed his rope and jumped in the lake to retrieve operator and occupant in order to get them aboard his vessel.  Good sam stated that he tried several times to dive down towards the submerged vessel in order to attempt to locate victim, but was unable to do so.

There also were two female witnesses, who were fishing on their dock located a few houses down from the stumpy creek access area.  They stated they heard people yelling for help and proceeded to call 911.  They stayed on the phone with 911 until the police arrived at the access area.

Good sam took both of the survivors to the stumpy creek access area.  The iredell rescue squad, fire department, sheriff deputies, and mooresville police department were on scene by this point.  The rescue dive team was unable to locate the body of victim, approximately 12:04am, about one hour and 34 minutes after the occurrence.

According to the survivors, operator and occupant, victim did know how to swim.  Operator stated that there were no pfds aboard the vessel.  However, after the vessel was recovered the following morning, there were 3 type iii pfds, a fire extuingisher and proper nagivational lights aboard the vessel.  The drowning of victim could have possibly been prevented if they knew that there were in fact pfds aboard the vessel.  It was also discovered that the cause of the accident appeared to be due to the absence of the drain plug.  After interviewing everyone involved in this accident, it is reasonable to believe that operator did not have over 100 hrs worth of boating experience as he had filled out on the form mb 4.1.  Operator was not aware of the purpose of a drain plug or where it was located.

No one was charged as a result of this accident.  It appeared as though no drugs or alcohol was involved, it is my opinion that operator inexperience was the result of the accident and perhaps if everyone aboard would have known that coast guard approved pfds were present, then maybe it could have prevented the fatality.
MOORESVILLE