SILVERADO, California — Juan Flores, 34, and Tomas Privera, 23, were both killed and two other men rescued alive after their small fishing boat capsized on Irvine Lake around midnight on Sunday, according to the Orange County Register.
Police continue to investigate the weekend boat accident in an effort to determine what caused the motor boat to capsize in the lake in this unincorporated recreational area near Irvine.
Security guard Jerry Wall was patrolling the privately-owned lake in Silverado at the time of the accident and rescued the two survivors who told officials they were night fishing.
According to the Register, search-and-rescue boats and helicopters were utilized in the search for the two victims, but the search was called off at 3:30 a.m. as it was too difficult to locate them in the dark.
Rescue workers using sonar technology eventually located the victim’s bodies later that morning at10:20 a.m. and 11:45 a.m., reports said. However, officials said they were unable to comment on what caused the accident, whether it was a malfunction, a leak or pilot error.
RECREATIONAL BOATING ACCIDENT STATISTICS
According to the latest annual report on recreational boating accident statistics conducted by the California Department of Boating and Waterways there were 627 accidents including 398 injuries and 49 fatalities reported in 2009.
Over the past 10 years, the report shows that 2009 was safest year for recreational boaters as there was a steep drop in the number of accidents down from 2007 where there was 804 accidents including 55 fatalities.
According to the report, 69 of the accidents including seven deaths occurred on a lake in the southern part of the state. The majority of recreation boating accidents took place off the Southern California coast with 203 accidents including 11 deaths.
The report shows a large number of the accidents took place during the hours of 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Also, about 8 percent of the accidents were due to a boat capsizing, 33 percent of boating accidents were vessel-on-vessel collisions accounting, 16 percent were due to flooding and 12 percent were a result of the boat being grounded.
“Although it is still unclear what events led to this boat accident police will investigate the circumstances including whether there was any operator error or criminal actions involved,” said Attorney West Seegmiller, founder of the Seegmiller Law Firm.
Although boating accidents are rare in comparison to vehicle accidents, they can still be the result of negligence or malfunction, Seegmiller said.
For roughly 30 years the Seegmiller Law Firm has handled cases involving personal injuries that can occur because of negligence or malfunction. If you or a loved one were the victim of an accident that you feel could have been prevented, the Seegmiller Law Firm will fight to assist you in getting just compensation.
Although compensation for injuries or a family member’s death will never take away the emotional pain of losing someone in a boating accident, it can help to rebuild your life including supporting children and paying medical bills.
Call us today at 1-855-ASK WEST (1-855-275-9378) to speak with our accident law firm. Seegmiller Law Firm has offices in California including its headquarters in Irvine. We also have offices outside of Orange County to serve you in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Diego, Riverside and in Las Vegas, Nevada.
