6 dead, 2 missing after boat capsizes on Lake Tahoe

Six people died and two are still missing after a boat capsized on Lake Tahoe during a wicked wind storm Saturday.

Emergency responders received a report of “10 people in the water” around 3 p.m. when the 27-foot Chris-Craft vessel capsized near D.L. Bliss State Park in California after a “large swell,” the United States Coast Guard said in a press release.

Six people were confirmed dead, two were taken to a local hospital, and the search for an additional two missing people is “still ongoing,” the Coast Guard said.

A lifeguard and ranger saw the accident and were able to rescue two people, the outlet said.

Then “as the Coast Guard arrived, they saw another person in the water, and the lifeguard swam to assist. The person in the water and the lifeguard were pulled onto the Coast Guard boat and transported to Lester Beach. EMS arrived at the beach, but that person was pronounced deceased,” the USCG told the outlet. 

The lake was experiencing large swells with 6- to 8-foot waves created by the winds, witnesses told South Tahoe Now.

Footage obtained by the outlet showed boats rocking in the rough water.

The waves were “worse than 30-foot waves on the sea,” a local boat captain, Joby Cefalu, told the outlet.

The captain had set up a triage at the Tahoe Keys Marina office to aid victims, some of whom had hypothermia, he said.

Helicopter and airplane searches led by the USCG and El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office for the two missing individuals were resuming Sunday, authorities said.

The identities of the missing and deceased have not been released.