RedactedNarrative: At approximately 11:10 a.m., I, Senior Agent, was notified of a boating accident in Petite Bay near Bordelonville, La.  I was informed that a vessel struck a tree and the motor fell off of the boat.  The boat was stranded and passengers sustained serious injuries. I arrived on scene at approximately 11:30 a.m. Upon arrival, the vessel had been towed back to the boat landing and Air-Med was on-scene extracted the injured passengers from the vessel.  
  
  The operator of the vessel identified himself as Operator. According to Operator, he was operating a 15 foot aluminum Alweld vessel-bearing XXXX on Petite Bay located in Avoyelles Parish.  Operator had a total of 2 passengers in his vessel, Occupant 1 age 73, and Occupant 2 age 14. While traveling northwest in the channel of Petite Bay, Operator attempted to throttle down while approaching a narrow portion of Petite Bay containing scattered cypress trees.  According to Operator, his throttle stuck in the wide open position causing him to lose control and strike a large cypress trees near the left side of the channel. After colliding with the cypress tree, passenger was ejected over the starboard bow into the water. The impact caused the main portion of the motor break off and fall to the bottom of the channel leaving only the motor mount and tiller attached to the transom. The vessel was equipped with a tiller handle steering system.  All three occupants in the vessel were wearing PFD’s.  Occupant 1 was assisted back into the vessel and the operator, Operator, began paddling back towards the boat landing.  After yelling for help, a nearby vessel assisted in towing their vessel back to the landing on Old River. Medical services were contacted and were waiting at the boat landing. After arriving on shore, Occupant 1 and 2 were transported by Air Med service to Rapides Regional Hospital in Alexandria, La.  I then launched my vessel and went to the scene of the accident.  I took photographs of the cypress tree that was struck along with photos of the vessel damage.  Sgt. arrived on scene to assist and transported the damaged vessel to the Spring Bayou WMA Headquarters for further investigation.  Sgt. and I then proceeded to the Rapides Region Medical Center.  Occupant 1 sustained a compound fracture with his femur penetrating the skin.  Occupant 2 sustained a non-compounded femoral fracture.  They were both undergoing surgery at the time and we were unable to conduct interviews.  We did speak with (Operator) at the hospital.  He explained again what had taken place before and after the collision.  Operator later completed an operator boating incident report indicating that he was traveling at a rate of speed that did not allow him to avoid the collision. Occupant 1 also completed a voluntary statement.  Alcohol and/or drugs were not involved or detected. The contributing factors in this single vessel accident were fault of machinery and excessive speed.  The remnants of the outboard motor was unable to be recovered.  Sgt. and I conducted a close inspection of the tiller that was still attached to the vessel.  We were unable to detect any type of snag, obstruction, or rust build up on the tiller and cable portion.  We concluded that the obstruction must have occurred in the mechanism that was attached to the cable on the motor.  This mechanism sank to the bottom of the channel with the remnants of the outboard motor and was unable to be inspected.