Drone helps locate family of 7 after boat sinks into Utah Lake
Curtis Booker, Daily Herald
Utah Lake looking west from Saratoga Springs is shown in June 2024.Seven people in a sinking boat on Utah Lake were rescued Saturday morning with the help of a man flying a drone and other bystanders, according to the Utah County Sheriff’s Office.
Just before 11 a.m., authorities were called out to the Lindon Marina on reports of a boat with seven people that was sinking into the lake, officials said in a press release.
The caller reporting the incident didn’t know the boat’s exact location, only that it was somewhere between the Lindon Marina and Saratoga Springs. The occupants on the boat included three adults, two teenagers and toddlers aged 2 and 3, all who had life jackets, the release stated.
A responding Lindon police officer was met by a man who was planning to fly a drone from the Lindon Marina, when the man asked if it was OK to launch the drone, the officer asked if he’d be willing to help locate the seven people who ended up in the water, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
He agreed, and the drone located the family about 2.5 miles from Lindon Marina. “The man located the boat and the occupants in the water and was able to give responders a specific GPS location of the family in the water,” the release said.
Utah County Search & Rescue responded to the incident along with other agencies assisting in the air and on the water. Other boaters also helped with getting the family to safety, including an off-duty Orem firefighter, who scooped two people onto his boat and then towed the sunken boat back to Lindon Marina. Another boater brought the rest of the family back to the marina, officials said.
The sheriff’s office didn’t list what caused the boat to go under in its press release but officials told Fox 13 that it may have sprung a leak near the inboard/outboard engine.
The unnamed drone operator who played a vital role in the effort sacrificed the device due to a low battery, as it was too far out to make it back to shore, according to the release.
“Without this drone operator’s assistance, this rescue operation could easily have taken an hour or more longer than it did,” the Utah County Sheriff’s Office said. “And even in warm weather, this family could have had problems with hypothermia in the 81 degree water.”
Officials also noted that the family’s life jackets were critical in this incident, as the outcome could have been much different without them, the release said.
No injuries were reported.
