PEPIN, Wis. — Three bodies have been recovered from Lake Pepin, where a pontoon pleasure craft with six persons aboard capsized overnight. Three of the victims were rescued from the water within an hour. Searchers took most of Sunday to locate and retrieve the bodies of the other three victims. An armada of rescue boats, helicopters and drones from 10 agencies on both the Wisconsin and Minnesota sides of the lake were mobilized for the search. Authorities declined to release the names of the victims or where they were from. Wabasha County Sheriff Curt Struwe confirmed that one survivor was hospitalized. The other two survivors didn’t require medical attention, he said.
Mississippi River barge array. Each barge is 95 feet long. Piloting is from a towering wheelhouse atop the pusher towboat.
Pontoon boat. Rentals available at dozens of marinas on the Upper Mississippi. Some have tiny cabins for sleeping. Some vacationers camp on beaches.
The three recovered bodies were taken to St. Paul for autopsies by the Minnesota state medical examiner. The U.S. Coast Guard, which licenses commercial watercraft on the Mississippi River, including Lake Pepin, was expected to lead an investigation. Among many questions:
> Did the pontoon boat ram a consist pf barges traversing the lake ahead of a pusher towboat. Some barge consists are 500 feet long. Barge arrays typically move at 5 to 8 mph on the lake.
> Or did the pontoon boat ram the barges?
> Or was turgid wake from the towboat’s twin screws a factor?
> Was the towboat crew, at the rear of the barges, aware of what happened? Pusher tows, some with 6,000-horseppower diesel engines, drown out ambient noise.
> What were lake conditions? Lake Pepin can range from placid in light breezes to turbulent in storms. Also: Small craft are especially vulnerable to wakes from other vessels, such as from twin-screw towbars.