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Saul Young / AP
Evidence tape covers an electrical meter near two houseboats at German Creek Marina on Cherokee Lake in Bean Station, Tenn., on Wednesday. One boy died and another was critically injured after an apparent electrocution.
Updated at 8:40 p.m.: Three children died -- two in Missouri and one in Tennessee -- after they were shocked by electricity while swimming in lakes, authorities said.
In another tragedy, three children drowned in the Iowa River, police said.
In Missouri, 13-year-old Alexandra Anderson and her 8-year-old brother Brayden of Ashland were killed when they were shocked around noon by an unknown source of electricity while swimming near a private dock in the Lake of the Ozarks, KSHB-TV reported.
Several adults got the siblings out of the water but couldn't revive them. They were pronounced dead at Lake Regional Hospital in Osage Beach.
The Missouri Highway Patrol said investigators were looking at electricity powering lights and a pump that supplies water to a slide children use at the dock, but they had not determined what had caused the electrocution by Wednesday evening.
The accident in Tennessee happened near the German Creek Marina on Cherokee Lake in the town of Bean Station. Two boys were swimming in the lake between two house boats when they were shocked, the Grainger County Sheriff's Office said, WBIR-TV reported.
Saul Young / AP
The scene at German Creek Marina on Cherokee Lake in Bean Station, Tenn., on Wednesday after a boy died and another was critically injured in an apparent electrocution.
Both boys, whose names were not released, were originally reported dead, but Sheriff Scott Layel said one child was revived on a medical helicopter flight.
The sheriff's department said several other people were taken to the hospital in Morristown to be checked out because bystanders trying to rescue the boys were shocked as well.
The marina was evacuated as a precaution. Authorities were searching for the source of the electric current.
Layel told the Knoxville News Sentinel that wiring in the bottom of one of the houseboats might have caused the shocks.
It was uncertain whether the boys were shocked in the water or when they touched the metal ladder of one of the houseboats, Layel said.
A visitor from California, Paul Worley, told WBIR that he was temporarily paralyzed when he jumped into the water to try to rescue one of the victims.
"We heard the screaming, and we ran down there and saw a kid and a lady in the water," Worley told WBIR from his hospital bed in Morristown.
He said he jumped into the water not knowing it was electrified.
"I went down about 3-4 feet, and I figured 'I'm dead' because by then, I knew what it was."
He said despite the shock he tried to get one of the children to a nearby jet ski.
"I know when they cut off the electricity from the boat. I didn't feel the electricity anymore," he said.
WBIR said Worley was expected to be released from Lakeway Regional Hospital Thursday.
Drowning claims three other children
In another incident, the bodies of three children were found in the Iowa River Wednesday night near Marshalltown, NBC station WHO of Des Moines reported.
The station said the children were reported missing around 6:30 p.m. and the bodies of two girls and one boy, ages 6-10, were found just before 9 p.m. Police say the children were swimming in the river.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:
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Coincidence Pinky? Water and electricty doesn't mix, no big mystery. Call the electrician instead. Good grief. It was a terrible accident. You a lawyer?
Are you an electrician Mike (¬‿¬)
Dude !! lighten up! Way too angry !!
Lake of the Ozarks
Same happened to my beloved cousin and her daughter. Devastating Family tragedy. Wonder if it was the same dock area?
Prob not a good idea to swim around docked boats like in marina's. Where do you think they get the electrical source to light up those boats.. especially the ones people actually live on year round ? Water and electricity don't mix no matter how grounded you think it might be.
have seen this same story before with the same comments as these afterwards
its like de ja vu
It's a common issue at marinas, even worse in fresh water than salt water
Yes, and it's extremely common to swim off one's own dock at L of O.
Actually it's worse in salt water, because there's more corrosion involved...
FYI~
Saltwater is MUCH more conductive than freshwater.
Yes, saltwater is more conductive.. However many pieces of electrical equipment are grounded by driving conductors (rods) deep into the soil. These rods can corrode after awhile especially if there is salt water nearby. Electrical Utilities near the coast have more maintenance involved with properly grounding their transmission towers. That's why the need for ground testing is so important.. It saves lives..
Stray voltage is nothing to be trifled with.
The one in Missouri could be related to the local electric utility.
God bless.
how bizarre. i have never heard of electrocution in a lake environment before, then two in two separate locations on the same day.
Condolences to the families. Phooey to the idiots that want to make this political.
I blame Obama, liberals, immigrants, minorities, Muslims, women's rights activists, homosexuals, poor people, 3rd. world countries, China and the Jews. Hell anyone who's not a White Christian male; it's your fault!!!
Nice try libturd!Sit down,take off your cap,check the wiring and tin foil;take your meds and lay down for a nappy! I'll watch out for all those bad people while youe shuffy!
poor mas098, can't recognize sarcasm. This is why people have such a hard time around you people, you can't take a joke (unless it is at someone else s expense) and then you want to talk about tin foil.
You people have the market cornered on tin foil and koolaid. Fox News anyone???
oh the name calling is precious. libturd? really? is that the best you can do? Hell you need to be thanking every damn Liberal that you come across, because if it wasn't for Liberals, you sure as hell would not be able to read or write. You never would have been allowed into a college (if you attended). Now go ahead and prove me right!!!
Maybe it's time to ban swimming in all marinas, or erect flashing no-swimming signs , or a combination of both.
We adults must be more careful and diligent in making life safer for all kids, not just our own.
My deepest condolences to the families concerned.
Wait till your kids get the shock, then say NO knee jerk.
flashing no swimming signs?
If you can't get the printed one, a flashing one ain't gonna help you.
So sad
The OZARKS. What else is new?
Um...and your point, John?
I know it won't change anything, and I am sure that the majority of the time electricity at/in water is rigged to be safe, but, come on...electrical pumps at a slide for children to slide into the water with...
Very sad to hear about this but also very bizarre to see this specific location on national news. I grew up on that lake on the opposite shore of the bridge in the picture. In fact, my brother and I used to jump off the bridge (not the smartest thing we ever did) as teenagers and hung out at Bean Station all the time.
Sad to hear this news but it's also very bizarre to see this specific location on national news. I grew up on that lake on the shore opposite that bridge. In fact, my brother and I used to swim across and jump off the bridge (not the smartest thing we ever did for sure) when we were teenagers. Bean Station is very well known locally as a place for people to hang out at the lake and it looks like it's grown a lot in recent years.
Didn't mean to post twice! There was a delay in seeing the first one so I thought it didn't go through.
someone said something about this in the article about the kid that got shocked at the mini golf course...Person pointed out never to swim in a marina ....their must have been swimmers earlier so why did it happen to these kids....
Similar incident an week ago at Orange Lake Resort, in southwest Orange County, FLA. Tied to improper grounding of a circuit breaker for a submersible pump. (Ashton Jojo, an 11-year-old girl was electrocuted on a Central Florida putt-putt golf course when she fell into a water hazard trying to retrieve a golf ball.)
Nice, these places have known about the problem for how long? But it takes a death or two to get it fixed..Sound like a work place. Regardless if there swimming or not..That water belongs to everyone, no one owns the water..And yes the Marina should pay for this if they find fault/Boat Owners...
I live in Arkansas...am surrounded by highly educated people, and am one, also. It is disgusting to me to read such unkindness and ignorance here. Intelligence is not geographically determined. Politics has no place in the devastating news of the death of anyone. For God's sake...what is WRONG with some of you people? I suspect narcissistic personality disorder runs rampant among many of the posters....google it, and think about it.
Yes we see how the "Education" is so great..Look at the Sorry Azz state the USA is in..Sorry if you see anyone that has Logic,Reason,and Common Sense..Vote for them in the White house; screw the Intelligence..:p
paragus...give it a rest
To JS in SD:
I tried to copy and paste your post and/or respond to your post,...but for some reason it didn't work. So, this is my way of responding to your post. (Thank you for your post!!)
I did not know that swimming in a marina was dangerous, just as other posters have said. I feel so bad for these families. I hope that this article as well as your post can perhaps save many lives and many heart breaks in the future.
rukidingme , i did not know about marinas being that dangerous ether and posted about a bad power line that had been worked on , i feel dumb now and i thank JS IN SD too , also these poor families whose kids died or were hurt. i agree with you on his post saving lives.
What a tragic loss of life for these families...I'm so sorry for them.
It wasn't TENNESSEE MO....get the story right. It was LAKE OF THE OZARKS, MO which is about 1 hour south of Jefferson City, MO. Geez, what a disgrace to the childrens family because you all can't get the story correct. Sad...... but true. It's bad enough the parents had to lose 2 children in 1 day due to the electricity wasn't not grounded near the dock....... which the owners of the private dock should be held accountable for....but that's an opinion. Anyways, do not post TENNESSEE MO, because there is no such city in MO!!
Newswinner & EllieMae,
Your comments are sick. Children died and you two make political jokes of it. Why don''t you give us the address of your mothers so they can see what you wrote.