A Boat Capsized On Lake Taneycomo

[Corky 69]

NEAR BRANSON, Mo- -

A St. Louis man died at a Branson hospital after the boat he was on capsized on Lake Taneycomo.

Gary Berndhardt, 56, and two other men were fishing near Table Rock Dam when their boat hit a tree in the water Tuesday afternoon. The driver and another passenger managed to get on top of the boat and a tree limb until help could arrive. Another boater pulled Bernhardt out of the water after he drifted about a quarter mile downstream.

Bernhardt was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead about five hours later.

[duckydoty]

A horrible accident. Prayers for the families and all involved.

[fishinwrench]

Damm! How fast were they "fishing" I wonder ?

[Tim McDougald]

According to the article on STLToday (http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/two-men-die-after-separate-boat-crashes-on-missouri-lakes/article_b7abe460-bff1-54cc-8f14-678f19b529cb.html) they were drifting, hit a downed tree and capsized. The gentleman who died was not wearing a life jacket.

[ARHeadhunters]

They were attempting to free their fly line from the tree that's down at the top of the first island. The boat got pinned against the tree in the process and capsized. It was a group of sponsors with the Project Healing Waters event this week. Horrible tragedy at an otherwise great event. Let it be a reminder of the dangers of our tailwaters.

[Ham]

Yep, The White River can be VERY dangerous. Especially when there is HEAVY generation. The Norfork requires even more caution.

[Phil Lilley]

Wasn't sure I wanted to be the first to post this... since I was directly involved. But I'll comment.

They were trying to free fly line in the tree just upstream from the first island below the dam. Corp was releasing 210 mw or 4 full units are the time. They made several attempts to free the line, only to release more line into the tree. They admitted after the fact that they should have cut the line. On the last try, they pulled in to the tree, beside the tree while 2 of the men tried to pull the line out. That's when water rushed over the side of the boat, flipping it, rolling it under the tree.

There was one angler fishing at outlet #2. He saw everything. As soon as the boat rolled, he ran up and used the EM phone to call the Corp powerhouse and told them to shut the water down. They did. He also called 911.

Gary went into the water and went downstream. The other two men were trapped under the boat, one was pinned briefly. They both managed to get out from under neath the boat and up onto the boat which was above water, up-side-down. That was a miracle in itself seeing both were in their 70's and both with health issues. They had to force their way underwater to get out from under the boat. One man said he had to go under the tree, under water again, to get where he could get up on the boat.

One man, who had been in the water, pulled his cell phone out and to his surprise, got a signal. He called my daughter, Megan. We were in our house- I listened to her repeat what he was saying. I got, "We're in the water" and 'we're just below the dam". I rushed to the dock, informed one of our guides who was dropping off some vets, grabbed some rope and a dock hand and headed up in my boat.

The guide beat me- his boat was faster. He was holding on to Gary who he found in the water face down and unresponsive. We were just in front of the MDC boat ramp. It took all three of us to get him in my boat. He was very heavy and his clothes were slipping off. Once on the deck, I started CPR.

They drove my boat to the ramp where one EMT was waiting. He took over CPR. More emergency personnel arrived. Me and an officer jumped in a boat someone brought up from the resort and headed up to retrieve the others stranded. We found them on top of the jon boat. The water had dropped considerably and there was little current. They were unhurt but cold.

EMT's worked on Gary for may be 30+ minutes. With no response, they stopped, but when they did, they got a heart beat and blood pressure. So they took him to Cox where he died shortly after 10 pm.

Gary was a Franciscan priest from the St Louis area. I visited with him earlier that day. He was a very nice guy and everyone from St Louis loved him. He attended at the Healing Water meetings there as support.

[Phil Lilley]

I have put in a request that the tree be removed. It's nothing more than a "sweeper" that's waiting to swallow another boater.

[fishinwrench]

Man, what a mess! Sorry to hear of such an outcome. Simple things can sure go bad in a hurry.

[BilletHead]

God bless all involved. We have been in a rescue/recovery. Once when fishing Caplinger Mills a fellow decided he needed to go over the dam on a plastic raft. ON PURPOSE. Stockton was generating heavy and flood gated were open too. Mrs. BilletHead and I were in our boat below fishing. Someone screamed from the bridge that someone had gone over. We motored over as Pat started crying. I told her to put on her life jacket. The back wash at the low head dam was bad. The boat I had at the time was a stick steer in the front. I had a rope and as I went up I threw the best I could. At one time I seen his arm as he rolled around like a log. What a sickening feeling. From the bridge folks were screaming they could see him. From there vantage point they could but on the water in the swells and foam we couldn't. He finally broke free and drifted by. We swung around and I told Pat to grab anything she could. Finally she got his hair and to this day I don't know how we lifted a 250 lb. limp man into the boat. We got him to shore where there was a couple of guys that dragged him out. Then they looked at me like what do we do know. As I caught my breath I started CPR. Two quick breaths and nothing out of him but bubbles and pinkish material. Did rescue breathing and chest compressions until first responders arrived. They hooked him up to a unit of some sorts which told them to do nothing. Too late. We went back out to the river out of the way. By then everything had set in on what happened and we wept. After the coroner arrived and he did his thing everyone left and we started to pull out. A guy from the bridge shouted out hey you go get the raft out of our way so we can fish. I about went ballistic on him and just left. No one should have to do things like this but you will if you have to. There was one other boater there who did not even help. He told some one he did not want to get involved. This still makes me sick to think of that day and the whole event.

BilletHead