Grove, OK – The names of the two people killed and several injured during the deadly and dangerous holiday weekend on two area lakes were released Monday.
Carbon monoxide poisoning killed one boater and sickened five others as they celebrated July 4 in the Duck Creek area of Grand Lake.
It’s an unusual thing to happen on the lake, but it’s important for boaters to know how to protect themselves.
People from all across the country came to Grand Lake this year to celebrate the Fourth of July, according to Grand River Dam Authority spokesperson, Justin Alberty.
Thousands of boats, thousands and thousands of people,” he said.
Grand Lake is known for its coves – where people like to tie their boats up together and hang out – but the holiday fun ended for one family when a man died Saturday in Duck Creek.
Grand River Dam Authority Police said carbon monoxide built up in the cabin of the 1988 ChrisCraft boat, killing Myron Posivak of Arizona.
The odorless fumes made five others sick on the boat.
Alberty said this is the first carbon monoxide incident he’s heard of on Grand Lake.
It’s just very unusual this incident, this carbon monoxide poisoning. It certainly can happen, and we want people to be aware that it can happen, but for it to happen the way it did, it was really kind of an unusual event,” he said.
Brad Williams sells boats on Grand Lake and said carbon monoxide detectors can be lifesavers.
“If you have that you stand a very good chance of being just fine,” said Williams.
He said people need to always perform maintenance checks on their boats and make sure the detectors are working properly.
“It goes off sometimes and it annoys them. The truth is they should find out what’s going on,” said Williams. “Check your hoses for cracks, loose fittings, things like that because that’s where your exhaust leaks come in.”
The GRDA said it will be updating its boating safety guidelines to educate boaters about CO poisoning.