A boat explosion on Lake Lanier that injured seven people is among a series of serious boating incidents reported across Georgia on the Fourth of July.
According to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division, 13 boating incidents on the Fourth resulted in 18 injuries and two deaths statewide.
Explosions rock Georgia waterways
One of the most severe incidents occurred Friday evening on Lake Lanier when a 23-foot cabin cruiser exploded while being towed in Landshark Cove. Five people were hospitalized, and two others were treated at the scene.
A second explosion was reported Friday on Lake Nottely in Union County. DNR says a boat had just refueled and was idling out of the no-wake zone when the engine stalled. As the operator attempted to restart it, the vessel exploded, injuring all seven people aboard. The boat burned to the waterline and sank.
That same afternoon, a 19-foot boat exploded without warning on the Altamaha River in Wayne County. The vessel was drifting in neutral when it caught fire. A nearby boater rescued all three occupants before the burning boat drifted to the bank and sank. One person suffered minor burns.
4-year-old, teens injured in separate incidents
In Fannin County, an 18-year-old riding a personal watercraft on Lake Blue Ridge was struck by lightning. He was taken to Blue Ridge Medical Center in stable condition.
On Lake Allatoona, a 13-year-old girl suffered a serious leg injury after being struck by a boat propeller while swimming behind a ski boat. Game wardens applied a tourniquet before she was transported to Kennestone Hospital.
Later that day, four adults were thrown into the water when their boat capsized on Lake Allatoona. Two swam to shore, while two others were rescued by passing boaters. No injuries were reported.
In Putnam County, a 4-year-old girl was rescued from under an overturned pontoon boat on Lake Oconee. Witnesses said the boat capsized after passengers panicked and rushed to one side during a large wave. A former lifeguard located the girl underwater, and CPR was administered before she was flown to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
Also in Putnam County, a 30-year-old man went missing after being thrown from a personal watercraft on Lake Sinclair. He was not wearing a life jacket. The Baldwin County Dive Team recovered his body on Sunday, July 6, after an intense two-day search.
More near-misses and one confirmed fatality
Five people swam to safety after their boat began sinking on West Point Lake in Troup County following a fireworks show. All were wearing life jackets and were rescued by nearby U.S. Army Corps of Engineers personnel.
Tragedy struck in Wheeler County, where a fisherman drowned after falling from a boat into a private pond. His body was later recovered by sheriff’s deputies. His death marked the second boating-related death in Georgia on July Fourth, but it does not appear in DNR stats because it occurred on private property.
Other incidents reported on July 4 included a man thrown from his boat on the Chattahoochee River after hitting a large wake—he was uninjured—and two juveniles colliding on jet skis on Lake Harding in Harris County, also without injury.
In McIntosh County, two boats collided in narrow, shallow waters along Rattlesnake Creek. Both vessels were damaged, but no injuries occurred.
Officials credit life jackets with preventing further tragedy and continue to urge safe boating practices on Georgia’s waterways.
