(Wahpeton)– Rough water was likely what caused a dock barge to sink October 23rd on West Lake Okoboji claiming the lives of 31-year-old Mathew Molacek of Wallingford and 12-year-old Collin Helmers of Estherville. That word from Gary Owen of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, which is concluding its investigation into the incident.
Owen tells KUOO news it appears the combination of strong wind and waves spilling into the barge’s motor compartment stalled the engine, causing the barge to go down. Weather records show the wind was out of the west day at 10 to 27 miles-per-hour and were slowly switching to the northwest.
Owen says he’s basing his conclusion on the fact that there was no visible damage to the barge and that there was no structural reason as to why it sunk.
The barge was heading south from Miller’s Bay to Emerson Bay when the engine stalled and it went down. The barge was found about two thousand feet east of Gull Point. Molacek’s body was recovered October 25th in 68 feet of water 20 feet from the barge.
Helmers is still missing, inspite of exhaustive search efforts that involved dive teams from Minnesota and Iowa, special dogs, state-of-the-art sonar technology and even a submarine. The search for Helmers has been suspended until the ice goes off the lake this spring.
Investigators were unable to locate any life jackets during the months-long search. Owen says “the lack of safety equipment had nothing to do with the barge going down, but had a lot to do with two people losing their lives”.
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