A Qulin, Mo., man apparently drowned after being ejected from his boat during a family fishing trip Tuesday morning on Black River in Wayne County.
At about 9:35 a.m., Kenneth B. Vancil, 70, was operating a 1993 Bass Tracker jet boat on the river, about three miles west of Williamsville, Mo., explained Missouri State Highway Patrol Cpl. J.T. Wilson.
Vancil had his 12-year-old grandson, Ben, in the boat, and they had just put in to fish, Wilson said. Vancil's son, Boyd, was going with them in a canoe and was preparing to launch the canoe when it happened, he said.
"(The elder Vancil) was trying to pull up into a slough," Wilson said. "I think rocks got caught up in his jet, and he was unable to move forward.
"Basically, the current took him downstream. Then, he struck a root wad, ejecting both him and the boy."
Wilson said the boat bounced off the root wad, and the boy was able to get back in the boat. "Mr. Vancil was not," he said.
The boat, Wilson said, may have submerged somewhat, but "I think it (just) tipped over" and took on a little bit of water.
The current carried both Vancil, who was wearing a life jacket, and the boat downstream, Wilson said.
Vancil's son, he said, found and recovered his father, who was floating face down, about a mile downstream. Recovery, he said, was made off County Road 424.
"The son got to the dad first, got him to the bank, and then went after (his) son and got him out of the boat," Wilson said. The boy was not hurt.
Since Vancil was wearing a life jacket, Wilson said, it is not known if he was "under water for a long time, passed out or had a heart condition. He was an older gentleman."
The water, according to Wilson, was murky and a little high.
"Where (Vancil) was located, it was four to five feet high in water depth," Wilson said.
The trooper believes the root wad was "always here" and not the result of the historic flooding in late April.
"He just got in a bad situation and was thrust into that (root wad)," Wilson said.
Vancil was pronounced dead at the scene at 10:09 a.m. by Wayne County Sheriff Dean Finch.
Vancil's water-related accident was the second in Wayne County Tuesday morning.
At about 8:15 a.m., a Herrin, Ill., teenager was injured in a canoe accident on the St. Francis River, about two miles north of the Highway 34 bridge.
Harley D. Konkel, 14, was among a group of Boy Scouts who were "trying to get through a little tricky area in their canoes," Wilson explained. Boy Scout Camp Lewallen is located in Wayne County.
"There was a hazard in the water, a root wad or tree, they were trying to float through," Wilson said.
Konkel's canoe tipped, and he got out and was "kind of holding his canoe there" when "the second canoe came behind him and wedged him between the two vessels," Wilson said.
The teen, he said, was in a lot of pain, having suffered some broken ribs, and was taken by ambulance to Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center, where he was admitted.
Although the exact location of the accident is not known, Wilson estimated the water depth was about waist deep in that area of the river.
Later in the day, a 13-year-old Montgomery, Ill., resident died in a canoeing accident on the Jacks Fork River, just south of Eminence, Mo., in Shannon County.
At about 3:15 p.m., the highway patrol reports Justin D. Persons was canoeing in the Shawnee Creek area of the river with his father when their canoe capsized.
The teen reportedly became lodged under a fallen tree.
"A bystander is who got him loose; his life jacket became hung on the root wad under the water," explained Trooper R.B. Arnold. "They actually had to cut the life jacket.
"Once they cut the life jacket, the boy came out."
A park ranger was there within moments and began CPR, Arnold said.
Persons was pronounced dead at 4:35 p.m. by Shannon County Coroner Tim Denton.
According to Arnold, the Jacks Fork River is "normal" at this time.
"It looked great, very clear," he said. "It was as normal as I've seen it, in fact, up there."
Persons is the third to die in water-related accidents in the Southern Missouri area in three days.
A 19-year-old Farmington, Mo., man drowned Sunday while attempting to swim across Black River in Johnson Shut-Ins State Park in Reynolds County.
According to the highway patrol, at about 6:45 p.m., Christopher C. Watson submerged while swimming and did not resurface.
Watson was pronounced dead at 8:45 p.m. by Reynolds County Coroner Jeff McSpadden.