5 killed in boat crash
OKLAHOMA CITY ? Two jet boats collided on Lake Texoma, killing five people and injuring another, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said.
One of the boats struck the other watercraft on the middle of its side, trooper Kera Philippi said. Four people were in one boat and two were in the other, she said.
Other details about the crash and victims, including the condition of the survivor, weren’t known. Identities were withheld pending notification of relatives.
Only pieces were left of one boat. The rear of another yellow, twin-hull jet boat with purple trim was partially submerged and the left side of the bottom was ripped out. A tugboat was in the process of towing the damaged boats to shore, Philippi said.
Investigators didn’t know whether the victims had been involved in a “poker run” event, in which participants get a playing card at five different stops and win if they have the best poker hand at the end.
Stillwater residents Joe and Tisha Wilson said they had been watching the poker run before the crash.
“We knew there was a problem when we didn’t see any of the boats return past us,” Joe Wilson said.
Labor Day vacationers remained at the shore of the massive lake, which is Oklahoma’s second-largest body of water and straddles the Oklahoma-Texas border.