Driver arrested after boat crashes into Missouri house; 8 injured

MILLER COUNTY, Mo. (KY3/Gray News) - Police say eight people were injured and the driver arrested after their boat hit land and crashed into a house at Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks.

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, KY3 reports.

Police say 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.

Six of the eight people, including the driver, were taken to the hospital with serious injuries, and two had moderate injuries. The youngest person is 21 years old.

Police say the home sustained extensive damage.

Travis Coleman is the owner of Tow Boat U.S. 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,” Coleman said.

He said situations like these can be prevented.

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

Coleman said this is becoming a trend.

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

During their investigation, troopers used a drone to help reconstruct the crash, according to the MSHP Troop F Twitter account.

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