A Russian man died, several others were nearly drowned and some were cut by boat propellers as high winds wreaked havoc on a group of pontoon boaters at Lake Powell.
Some 29 young adults were in the group of international visitors who rented three pontoons Monday in Wahweap and traveled to the Castle Rock Cut in Wahweap Bay, according to a news statement from Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.
Several of the boaters had hopped into the water to swim — without life jackets — when winds picked up. As the swimmers began to struggle, boat operators drove out to them and pulled them out of the water, some of them “near total exhaustion,” park officials wrote.