The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office crews are searching for two passengers of a capsized boat at Apache Lake.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, on Saturday night, in the area of Alder Creek commonly referred to as “Party Cove,” a flash flood caught two boats on the shoreline scrambling to get escape the area.
One of the boats, which had 5 persons onboard experienced mechanical issues and would not start. The other boater maneuvered their boat to try and jumpstart the other boat. This effort was unsuccessful before the flash flood and debris carried with it, reached the lake. The 5 people onboard the inoperable board went into the water as the boat capsized.
The other boat operator and his passenger were able to rescue three of the five people that were in the water. The other two persons were not able to be located. They have been identified as 52-year-old Rick Le Grand and 41-year-old Deanna Peterson.
Search efforts are still underway at this time to locate and recover their bodies.
The search area includes part of the cove that is covered by a debris field that is approximately 200’ x 350’ wide, composed of tree branches and logs that are residual vegetation from the recent Bush Fire that burned the Four Peaks mountain area. The layer of debris on the surface of the water is approximately 12” thick.
MCSO divers are dealing with a large search area that has almost zero visibility.