Friday, March 29

Sea Ray Explodes at Gas Dock; One Killed, Three Injured

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A 1999 Sea Ray exploded after refueling at a gas dock on the Lake of the Ozarks last Saturday. One person was killed, three were injured, and only quick thinking by other people on the fuel dock and on PWCs in the water kept the tragedy from getting worse.

The explosion occurred at 3:58 p.m. at the Bridgeview Marina, when Brent Soloman, 52, the boat’s driver, turned on the engines after refueling. The blast threw two passengers, Lauren Wilken, 37, and Benjamin Dodd, 47, into the water. Soloman himself jumped overboard. A fourth passenger, Shawn Carroll, 53, was missing.

The shock of the explosion blew out the door and the windows at the marina. Gregg Newell, the marina owner, cut the Sea Ray’s bow line and pushed it away from the dock to keep the fuel pumps from igniting. Other dock workers raced to the fuel pump emergency shut off, while people from other boats jumped into the water to rescue Soloman, Wilken and Dodd.

By this time the Sea Ray was a floating inferno, and it was drifting toward Formula Boats of Missouri, a larger marina and boat dealership. Boaters on PWCs used their wakes to push the Sea Ray toward the shore, where Osage Beach firefighters finally extinguished the fire.

Soloman, Wilken, and Dodd were all taken to nearby hospitals; Wilken and Dodd with serious injuries. Divers probed the waters, trying to locate Carroll, but his body was found later in the Sea Ray’s engine compartment. Read more:

https://www.lakeexpo.com/boating/boat_crashes/when-a-boat-exploded-on-lake-of-the-ozarks-young-people-became-heroes/article_25e6545a-8e2f-11ea-811c-436f805df9a7.html

https://www.lakeexpo.com/boating/boat_crashes/update-patrol-ids-man-killed-when-boat-exploded-after-refueling/article_97ab90c0-8d47-11ea-81a6-8f8025dc56e4.html#tncms-source=infinity-scroll-summary-next

 

 

 

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