Driver arrested after boat crashes into house at Lake of the Ozarks; 8 injured

MILLER COUNTY, Mo. (KY3) - Eight people have been injured, and the driver has been arrested after their boat hit land and crashed into a house at Lake of the Ozarks Saturday night.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol crash report, the boat, carrying eight people, hit the ground and a house, then overturned, throwing all passengers and the driver out.

The crash happened around 11:50 p.m. Saturday at the 1.3-mile mark of the Osage Arm of Lake of the Ozarks. According to the MSHP Troop F Twitter account, troopers used a drone to help reconstruct the crash during their investigation.

The driver of the boat has been arrested on charges of boating while intoxicated causing serious physical injury and physical injury. He has not been formally charged.

Travis Coleman is the owner of Tow Boat US at the Lake of the Ozarks. His team responded to get the boat off the house with a crane.

“These individuals suffered some pretty life-changing, life-altering injuries, and it all, in my opinion, could have been avoided,” said Coleman.

Coleman said this is becoming a trend.

“It’s becoming more and more common here at Lake of the Ozarks,” said Coleman. “We’re getting busier and busier here.”

Coleman said situations like these can be prevented.

“You’ve really got to be careful,” said Coleman. “Last night was a very kind of a dark, steamy, not really foggy, but really heavy air. We didn’t have a good moon in this lake is very confusing to navigate at night.”

Six of the eight people were taken to the hospital with serious injuries, and two had moderate injuries. The youngest person is 21 years old. None of the people involved were from Missouri.

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