Number 8 Krista Lee Philemon North Carolina woman Krista Lee Philemon, aged 22,
was on a pontoon boat with friends on South Carolina’s Lake Wateree, in July of 2019. The
young woman had reportedly graduated at the top of her class at Piedmont High School and had recently
started a non-profit organization called Painting with a Purpose, which raised money in support of
her local charities. Multiple reports indicated that she was well-liked by those who knew her. At
some point during the outing, Philemon, who wasn’t wearing a personal flotation device, jumped from
the boat along with several others. She failed to reemerge from the murky reservoir in the moments
that followed and her group called 911. The young woman’s body was found two days later, near Jutty
Point, and it was determined that she’d drowned. No foul play was suspected. Camden Fire Chief John
Bowers told a media outlet that there were many “unanswered questions” about the circumstances
surrounding Philemon’s death but no further updates were released following the incident.
Number 7 Franklin Freddy Meave Vázquez On March the 9th of 2022, undocumented
Mexican immigrant Franklin Freddy Meave Vázquez admitted he’d killed a man aboard a scallop boat
off the coast of Massachusetts. In September of 2018, Vázquez, who was then in his late 20s,
was aboard the The Captain Billy Harver vessel, along with six other crew members. As reported
in a mayday call to the Coast Guard, Vázquez “went crazy” and started attacking them as they
were sailing off Nantucket. None of the victims were identified. According to the Department of
Justice, Vázquez first went to the shucking house and hit a crew member in the head with a hammer,
knocking him unconscious. He then stabbed a second man multiple times with a long fillet knife,
on the boat deck. A third crew member was struck in the head with a hammer while he was climbing
up from the ice hold and subsequently fell off the ladder. While the captain and remaining crew
tried to detain Vázquez, he was able to escape and climb to the top of the rigging mast,
where he remained until he was taken into custody by the Coast Guard. The crew member he’d stabbed
was pronounced dead by the boat’s doctor. Four years later, Vázquez pleaded guilty to
one count of second-degree murder, one count of attempted murder and one count of assault
with a dangerous weapon. Number 6 Laura Perry
38-year-old London woman Laura Perry was on a Norfolk Broads hired boat on the River Bure,
on August 19th of 2020. They were part of a group of nine which included Perry’s husband,
who was also the nominated skipper, and their three sons. Joining them were also Perry’s mother,
father and sister, with the latter operating the 42-foot motor cruiser
Diamond Emblem 1. At around 1:18 pm, the boat’s stern made hard contact with the river wall
opposite Great Yarmouth Yacht Station. The jolt caused Perry to fall overboard from the rear deck.
The mother-of-three became entangled in a rope and was also caught in the propeller,
suffering injuries that resulted in her drowning. In the tragedy’s aftermath, an inquiry found that
the accident might’ve been avoided had the Emblem 1 been fitted with a guardrail around
its stern. Further recommendations were made by the report to increase the oversight of hire
boat handover protocols, particularly regarding large motor cruisers and inexperienced tourists.
Number 5 Wilmington River Collision Five people perished, over Memorial Day
weekend, 2022, following a frontal collision between two boats on the Wilmington River,
in Chatham County, Georgia. The vessels had been travelling in opposite directions when
they smashed into each other near the Oatland Island Wildlife Center docks, at around 10:30 am.
The spot, where the river is met by Richardson Creek, is known as a dangerous area. A bystander
alerted the Coast Guard who launched a helicopter search and airlifted one survivor from the water.
Nine people were involved in the crash, two of whom were pronounced dead at the scene and three
others who were pulled from the water in the days that followed. Four of them
were members of the same Savannah family. They were named as Chris Leffler and his wife Lori,
both in their early 50s, along with their two sons, Nate and Zach. The Lefflers’ daughter and
her friend were among the survivors. According to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources,
Savannah resident Mark Christopher Stegall, aged 45, was charged with boating under the influence
in connection with the accident. Number 4
Hector Ricardo Brun and Kacie Elizabeth Banks Two boaters died in an accident at Canyon Lake,
in Comal County, Texas, on June the 10th of 2022, after they were struck by a propeller. San
Antonio residents Hector Ricardo Brun and Kacie Elizabeth Banks, aged 54 and 22, respectively,
were on a twin-engine boat along with several others. They were about 100 yards from shore,
and in water that was 25 to 30 feet deep. Following a preliminary investigation,
an official for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department reported that one of the boat’s
occupants “accidentally throttled or shifted” it. In the moments that followed one or both of
its propellers fatally struck Brun and Banks. The tragedy followed two recent drowning incidents,
on June the 5th and 6th, involving two men, both in their 50s. One had tried to swim 40 yards back
to a boat ramp while the other was found face-down in the water, while wearing a life jacket,
close to another boat ramp. Number 3 Linda Carman
In May of 2022, nearly six years after he’d been found floating on a raft
on the coast of New England, 28-year-old Nathan Carman was charged with killing his mother.
In September of 2016, Nathan had arranged to go on a fishing trip with his mother,
Linda, in his 31-foot boat called Chicken Pox. The vessel sank and Linda died at sea
while Nathan was found floating on an inflatable raft, roughly eight days after they’d set out.
He claimed that the vessel had started to rapidly take in water, prompting him to make his way to
the raft. Nathan maintained that he’d called out to his mother but never saw her again. In 2019,
a federal judge in Rhode Island concluded that the young man had contributed to the
boat’s sinking. As reported by witnesses, he’d removed two stabilizing trim tabs from the stern,
near the vessel's waterline, leaving holes that he tried to seal with an epoxy stick. The authorities
also suspected that Nathan had been responsible for the murder of his grandfather, John Chakalos,
on December the 20th of 2013. Nathan had had dinner with the 87-year-old the night before
he was shot three times in the head at his home in Windsor, Connecticut. Earlier, in November,
Nathan had used his New Hampshire driver's license to purchase a rifle. He was accused
of Chakalos’ murder in the 2022 indictment but not charged with it. Investigators suspected that he’d
killed both his grandfather and mother in a bid to gain control of the former’s multi-million
dollar fortune. Nathan’s trial was ongoing as of the latest information available on the matter.
Today's topic was requested by Dhakshayani Ramalingam. If you have any other topics
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Number 2 2018 Labor Day Weekend Crash Over Labor Day Weekend, in 2018,
a horrific crash on the Colorado River, in California, resulted in four fatalities and
multiple people sustaining serious injuries. It occurred just after 8 pm, on September the 1st,
on a stretch of the river between Pirates Cove and the Topock Marina. A southbound 26-foot Sleek
collided head-on with a northbound 28-foot Hallet boat, which had nine passengers aboard. The latter
was operated by 49-year-old Brian Grabowski and its occupants included Christine Lewis
as well as Kirra Drury and Raegan Heitzig, both in their mid-20s. Operating the Sleek was Victorville
man Jereme Crist and his vessel carried five passengers. No charges were filed in the aftermath
as the crash was determined to have occurred due to a combination of factors that included
both Grabowski and Crist had been operating the vessels at unsafe speeds, during a time of day
with poor visibility and on a narrow stretch of the river. As a result of the devastating impact,
all of the people on both boats ended up in the water and the vessels began sinking.
Chaos followed as none of them were wearing life vests and started drifting with the current. Some
were dealing with crippling injuries or trying to make their way through the dark and fast-moving,
debris-filled water. Heitzig's sister, Jordan, suffered a fractured spine at the top of her neck
and was knocked unconscious. Her life was saved by her aunt, who was reported as Grabowski’s wife,
and both women survived after being taken to a Las Vegas hospital. Taylor Corbino,
a survivor from the Sleek, later recounted “the current was so strong it was moving me around”.
All of the fatalities were from the Hallet and, in the days that followed, rescue crews recovered
the bodies of 51-year-old Lewis, along with Drury and Grabowski. Heitzig was missing and presumed
dead for nearly two years, until July the 4th of 2020, when a body was found near Blankenship
Bend and confirmed as hers via dental records. Number 1 Table Rock Duck Boat Accident
On July the 19th of 2018, a duck boat operated by the Ride the Ducks tour headed out on Table
Rock Lake, near Branson, Missouri, while carrying 31 people. Duck boats were wheeled
amphibious vehicles used by the US military towards the end of World War II and in the
Korean War. In the late 1940s, a Minnesota veteran converted some of the vessels into attractions and
started offering tours. The practice was picked up by multiple businesses in the decades that
followed. On July the 18th, the National Weather Service had issued severe thunderstorm warnings.
Winds in excess of 60 mph hit the Branson area and generated three-foot waves on the lake.
The Ride the Ducks amphibious vehicle, built in 1944, had been modified to hold more people but
its stability didn’t hold up when it was struck by the storm. A 911 call was sent out at around
7:09 pm, by which point the boat had capsized and started sinking. None of its occupants were
wearing life jackets and 17 people lost their lives, nine of whom were members of the same
family visiting from Indianapolis. A number of issues had led to the crash and consequent
fatalities, including the crew’s failure to heed storm warnings and the boat’s build, particularly
its overhead canopy, which had hastened the sinking process, trapping passengers inside.
The design liability had been highlighted by the National Transportation Safety Board on multiple
occasions, but had gone unaddressed. Captain Kenneth Scott McKee was charged with 17 counts of
misconduct, negligence or inattention to duty by a ship's officer, resulting in death. Also indicted
for multiple felonies was Ride the Ducks Branson’s general manager along with an operations manager.
The state charges against the three workers were ultimately dismissed, in April of 2022, while all
the lawsuits initiated by the accident’s survivors and victims’ families were settled by the Ride
the Ducks’ parent company. The Branson branch was permanently closed in the tragedy’s wake.
Thanks for watching! Would you rather cross shark-infested waters in a boat of your own
making OR BASE jump with a homemade parachute? Let us know in the comments section below!