Upon notification it was reported that EMS was transporting the injured operator to the Johnson County Hospital, so I responded there first.  At the hospital the passenger advised he and the operator were fishing a bass tournament out of Dardanelle State Park and were going up river.  The fog was so thick they were just using a GPS unit and following a track they had laid the day before.  He advised they were in the channel when they struck a barge.  He advised the operator was ejected and struck the side of the barge, then landed in the river.  He also advised they were just going fast enough to keep their vessel on plane. 

I then contacted the tug "Concordia" and they advised they were stationary waiting for the fog to lift and never knew V1 had struck them until they heard yelling.  V2's captain advised they had tied V1 to the side of the tug and had pumps in it to keep it from filling with water and sinking.  Upon arrival on scene, the bow of the barge was pushed up against the south bank just east of Cane Creek with the tug off the bank in the channel maintaining their position.  The tug was pushing 12 barges, 3 wide and 4 long, with the tug centered at the rear.  The total length was 918ft with a width of 105ft.  V2's captain advised at the time of the accident, his stern was further out in the channel than it was when I arrived.  The captain said it was about 100ft from the bank but the bow was in the same location, the barge was not anchored but was maintaining its position.

The point of impact was approximately 150ft from the stern of the tug on the port side.  This was about 42 feet from the rear of the barge located just off the bow on the port side of the tug.  The starboard side of the bow on V1 struck the side of the barge, this crushed the bow causing separation of the hull.  The bass boat then deflected toward the port side causing a secondary impact on the starboard stern crushing the corner of the vessel and breaking the motor mounts causing the motor to rest on the starboard side of the stern.  V1's operator was ejected out of the starboard side of the vessel impacting the barge.  

When I asked V2's captain why he was stopped he advised it was not safe to continue even with the radar and sonar because he could not see the bow of his barge in the thick fog.  When I asked V1's operator why he continued underway in the fog, he advised it wasn't foggy at Dardanelle when they left and when they entered the fog he was afraid to stop because of the other boats coming behind them.  He was afraid he would be run over.  V1's operator stated he noticed the barge about 50ft out before he struck it.  V1's operator was negligent continuing on and at the same speed under existing conditions.

SCRANTON                      