A late-night collision between a pontoon boat and a commercial barge on Lake Pepin claimed three people, including two off-duty Wabasha firefighters

By Paul Walsh, Sofia Barnett
Star Tribune

WABASHA COUNTY, Minn. An after-dark collision between a pontoon and a barge on Lake Pepin left three people dead, two of them firefighters from the area, officials said Monday.

The Wabasha County (Minn.) Sheriff’s Office said six people were thrown into the water around 10:45 p.m. Saturday when their pontoon overturned near YMCA Camp Pepin on the Wisconsin side of the lake.

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Emergency crews from Minnesota and Wisconsin scrambled after receiving reports of people screaming for help in the water, the sheriff’s office said. Rescuers found three people clinging to the overturned pontoon. They told rescuers that three of their companions did not resurface.

The pontoon collided with a commercial barge, according to a report to the U.S. Coast Guard from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

A large-scale search involving agencies from Minnesota and Wisconsin began Saturday night and resumed Sunday morning, the Sheriff’s Office said. Around 8 p.m., all three missing bodies had been found in the lake, authorities posted on social media. Lake Pepin is actually an area where the Mississippi River widens.

The identities of the victims, who were taken to the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office, are being withheld until families are notified, officials said.

Two of the pontoon occupants who died were off-duty members of the Wabasha Fire Department, Fire Chief Darren Sheeley said.

“We are grateful to our first responder community,” read a social media posting from the city of Wabasha, “especially the Wabasha Fire Department who supported the search and rescue operations, even while this tragedy hit hard on a personal level.”

“Our hearts are with the Wabasha Fire Department and with every family, friend, neighbor, and person who loved them. This isn’t a loss that stays inside one department. In a community this size, it touches all of us.”

In a separate posting, the Wabasha Ambulance Emergency Service said, “We don’t have the right words, so we won’t pretend to. What we have instead is this: we’ll carry them into every call we answer, every time we pull into a station, and every time we think of the people who are no longer standing where they should be.”

No campers or staff of the nearby YMCA camp were involved, authorities said. The investigation by multiple agencies into the circumstances that led to the collision by several area agencies continues.

“The Pepin County Sheriff’s Office and Wabasha County Sheriff’s Office extend their sincere condolences to the families, friends, and loved ones of those who lost their lives,” authorities said in a statement.

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